2024-01-13 18:57:00
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The results of the 2024 Taiwan presidential election are out. DPP candidates Lai Qingde and Xiao Meiqin were elected as the new president and vice president with 40% of the vote. Lai and Xiao won the election with 5.58 million votes and a vote rate of 40.05%. Compared with Tsai Ing-wen’s re-election in 2020 with 8.17 million votes and the first vote in 2016 He won the election with 6.89 million votes, or even the 6.09 million votes cast by Tsai Ing-wen when she ran for the first time in 2012. Compared with the past three elections, Lai Ching-te’s votes this year were both in terms of number of votes and vote rate. declining condition.
The other two groups of presidential candidates, Hou Youyi and Zhao Shaokang of the Kuomintang, ranked second with 4.67 million votes and a vote rate of 33.49%. Ke Wenzhe and Wu Xinying of the People’s Party ranked last with 3.69 million votes and a vote rate of 26.46%. According to the final statistical results of the Central Election Conference, the total number of voters for president and vice president in this election was 14.048 million, a decrease of approximately 416,000 from the total number of voters in the previous election of 14.464 million; the turnout rate was 71.86%, slightly lower than 74.9% four years ago. However, compared with the turnout of 66.27% eight years ago, it increased by 5.59%.
In addition, in the congressional election results, there were 73 regional legislative seats, with the Nationalist and Democratic parties each winning 36 seats, and the Blue and Green parties were tied in local elections. The only local legislator without party membership is the first constituency of Miaoli County, where Chen Chaoming, who has no party membership, was elected. However, the DPP’s 36 seats lost 10 seats compared with the 46 seats in 2020, while the KMT increased from 22 seats to 14 seats. Together with the friendly Gao Jin Sumei and Chen Chaoming, it is firmly the largest party in Congress.
In addition, the People’s Party won at least eight seats in the non-district areas. After Lai Chengde is elected, the political sector will be divided between the political parties. Among the Aboriginal (plain and mountainous) legislative seats, the Kuomintang won three seats, the Democratic Progressive Party two seats, and one seat without party membership. The total number of seats in the National Assembly between the KMT and KMT is: 52 seats for the KMT, 51 seats for the DPP, 8 seats for the People’s Party, and two seats without party membership.
In terms of the blue-green map of counties and cities across Taiwan, compared with 2020, the Democratic Progressive Party’s presidential election turned Nantou County from green to blue, while the remaining counties and cities remained unchanged. Regarding the legislative seats in the six cities, the DPP hit a “home run” in Tainan and Kaohsiung. Whether it was Tainan’s six seats or Kaohsiung’s eight seats, all seats were won by the DPP.
Looking at the blue, green and white “natal districts”, Lai Ching-te received 570,000 votes and a vote rate of 51% in Tainan City, which has been in power for eight years. Tainan, which is considered to be dark green, has faded slightly; Hsinchu City, received 367,000 votes, with a vote rate of 24%. In addition, Ke Wenzhe, who was born in Hsinchu City, received 90,000 votes, with a vote rate of 34%. Hou Youyi, the former deputy mayor and current mayor of New Taipei City, received 860,000 votes and a vote rate of 35%. Lai Qingde received 950,000 votes and a vote rate of 38.6% in New Taipei City, while Ke Wenzhe received 645,000 votes in New Taipei City. votes, and the vote rate was 26%.
Faced with this tough battle, Lai Ching-te finally defeated Hou Youyi and Ko Wenzhe with a gap of 910,000 votes and 1.89 million votes. This hard-won victory also successfully broke the problem that a single political party cannot be re-elected for a third term since Taiwan’s democratization. Spell. Previously, the Kuomintang and the People’s Party attempted to integrate the opposition and promote party rotation through Blue and White cooperation. However, in the end, they ran for elections separately because Blue and White failed. With hindsight, if Blue and White can succeed, with the total votes of Blue and White at 8.36 million votes, Lai Ching-te and the DPP may not be able to continue to serve in office. Perhaps party rotation has become a reality.
The votes for this general election were opened immediately after the polls closed. As soon as the votes were opened, Lai Qingde took the lead and gradually widened the lead. At the campaign headquarters of the blue, green and white parties, the atmosphere was different. The green camp, which maintained the lead, was crowded with thousands of people, and the atmosphere was lively and noisy, with constant shouting. The blue camp continued to shout confidently and cheer for the supporters. Now we are about to “rush to catch up”. As for Bai Ying, who was crowded with thousands of people at the scene, he continued to encourage the supporters with the spirit of “never give up” and shouted on the spot, “Don’t give up until the end of the vote!” However, faced with the increasing gap in the number of votes, supporters My heart has also fallen.
Later, Hou Youyi took the stage to give a speech at about 8 o’clock in the evening. Although he did not explicitly state that he had lost, he also admitted that the result of the election was due to insufficient personal efforts. “It is very regrettable that I was unable to complete the rotation of political parties. I let everyone down.” , here, I would like to express my 120,000-point apology: I’m sorry, I’m sorry to everyone.”
On January 12, 2024, KMT presidential and vice presidential candidates Hou Youyi and Zhao Shaokang held the “Pre-election Night to Win Back the Republic of China” at the Banqiao First Stadium in New Taipei City.Photo: Lin Zhendong/Duan Media
Hou Youyi said at the scene that he respects the final choice made by the Taiwanese people. The democratic choice is for the people to make the decision. He congratulated Lai Qingde and Xiao Meiqin on their election, but also pointed out that he hoped they would not let down the expectations of the Taiwanese people for politicians. He shouted that he would transform the power of grief and indignation into the power to supervise the Democratic Progressive Party. Everyone will never disperse or disappear. “Tomorrow, we will roll up our sleeves and ‘get to work’ to live up to the expectations of our supporters. I will work harder to contribute to the country.” During his concession speech, Hou Youyi bowed and apologized to his supporters three times, and then left in a car. Current party chairman Zhu Lilun was asked by the media whether he resigned as leader of the Kuomintang because of the defeat. Zhu Lilun did not reply.
At the other end of the city, Ke Wenzhe immediately stepped onto the stage at the campaign headquarters. He took the stage and said passionately that under the high blue and green wall, we have never given up and cannot give up. Although everyone is still sad tonight, There is no time to be sad. The country will continue to move forward and continue to work hard. He also said that although the number of votes was at the bottom, it has successfully proved to the world that “Taiwan is not just blue and green.”
Ko Wenzhe’s tone became slightly more relaxed. He joked that Huang Shanshan, the director-general of Ke’s campaign, wanted to take a day off tomorrow, but Huang told him that eight legislators in the Legislative Yuan were about to take over, so he still had to go to work at 7:30 on Sunday. He finally appealed to his supporters that he would not give up and neither should everyone. “We will definitely be able to govern and win back this country next time.”
On January 13, 2024, the Taiwan general election vote was opened, and the voting site was opened at the Ke Wenzhe campaign headquarters.Photo: Lin Zhendong/Duan Media
Later, after concluding the international press conference at 8:30, Lai Ching-te appeared at the campaign headquarters to deliver a victory speech. Before Lai Qingde spoke, current President Tsai Ing-wen spoke first, congratulating her deputy Lai Qingde on his successful election as president. At the same time, she also expressed her admiration to the other two groups of candidates who fought tirelessly in the election. She further pointed out that they have contributed a lot to this election campaign and have put forward many valuable opinions on the development of the country. “This election is a demonstration of the vitality of Taiwan’s democracy.”
Because of the mixed results between the government and the opposition, Tsai Ing-wen has repeatedly emphasized that the differences of opinion and various dialogues in this election campaign are the starting point for the government and the opposition to brainstorm in the future. “In this election, everyone also chose a Congress that requires more dialogue and cooperation between the government and the opposition.” Tsai Ing-wen emphasized: This tells us that many areas where governance in the past was incomplete or where society’s understanding was insufficient need to be improved. Try our best to communicate with society. As the ruling party, we should also take the initiative to go out in the future, listen, unite, and build the greatest consensus so that the country can continue to move forward.”
After Tsai Ing-wen finished her speech, Lai Ching-te said in a hoarse voice: “We have defended democracy and we have defended victory.” “This is a night that belongs to Taiwan. We will continue to let Taiwan continue to be a keyword in the world.”
He said that at an earlier international press conference, he said that Taiwan told the world that “between democracy and authoritarianism, we chose to stand on the side of the democratic camp.” He also said that in this general election, “We did not let the presiding officers succeed because we chose our own president.”
“I want to thank my supporters who voted for me and persisted to the end. I also want to thank the Taiwanese people who did not vote for me and have always spurred the DPP,” Lai Qingde said frankly. The DPP’s seats in the congressional election were not as good as expected. Representatives They still have a lot to improve. “We are not perfect, but we must be the political party that best responds to public opinion.”
In this general election, riding on the afterglow of the sunflower, it once became the emerging third force of the times. In this year’s election, it was a little lonely. It failed to win a seat in the regional legislators and non-district legislators, with only 2.57% of the party votes, compared with Compared with last year’s 7.76%, it has dropped significantly, and it has not even reached 3% of the votes of political parties receiving political party subsidies.
Faced with the loss of seats in Congress, Times Force held a press conference on the evening of the 13th. Party Chairman Wang Wanyu first led the party cadres to bow at 90 degrees to greet supporters, thanked them for their support, and said that they lost the election because they did not work hard enough. In order to take responsibility, The general decision-making committee resigned, and Wang Wanyu temporarily served as the acting chairman until the next decision-making committee was elected.
“The forces of the times have always known that they have chosen a difficult and not easy road, but there is no reason for defeat,” the Central Party Committee also issued a press release stating, “The road to reform may be lonely, but we will try our best to move forward. , thank you again to everyone who supports the power of the times.”
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