The DPP has notably lost the capital, Taipei, but Tsai Ing-Wen remains at the head of the island in a context of tension with Beijing.
by Simon Leplâtre ( Shanghai, correspondence)
This is a scathing defeat for the Progressive Democratic Party (DPP), and the president of Taiwan took note: after the announcement of the results on the evening of Saturday, November 26, Tsai Ing-Wen resigned from the presidency of the party, but keeps its functions at the head of the country. The DPP, which has been at the head of the island for six years and has a comfortable majority in Parliament, seems to be wearing power. The president’s strategy, based on a attachment of this local election to national and international issues, ended in failure: Tsai ING-Wen had described the test ballot to demonstrate “Taiwan resilience and of his determination to defend freedom and democracy “in the face of the threats of Beijing. The voters were also led to pronounced by referendum on a lowering of 20 to 18 years of legal age to vote, a proposal which did not collect enough votes to be adopted.
The DPP won only five of the cities and counties of the archipelago of 23 million inhabitants, its worst performance since its foundation in 1986. Opposite, Kouomintang (KMT) won 13 seats, including Those of the capital, Taipei, and Taoyuan, another major city in the north of the country. “The results of the elections are not those that we expected (…). I put all responsibility for it and I immediately resign from the presidency of the Progressive Democratic Party, Tsai Ing-Wen told journalists on Saturday. But we are n ‘Do not have time to sadden ourselves, we must get up (…) to face the challenges of the current international situation and the future, “she added.
The leader had already resigned from the presidency of her party in 2018, after missed municipal elections for her party, before being chosen again by the members of the DPP. This previous defeat which had not prevented M me tsai from winning a large victory for a second term of the President of the Republic against a candidate of the KMT, in 2020.
Kouomintang “median track”
Local elections are less linked than presidential elections to relations with China, which considers Taiwan as a rebellious province intended to be “reunified”, by force if necessary. But Beijing wanted to see in this result a disavowal of the DPP policy, which firmly defends the sovereignty of Taiwan, while the KMT is more favorable to a rapprochement with China. The head of the Taiwanese Affairs Office, an organ of the Chinese government, interpreted the defeat of the party of Tsai Ing-Wen as a sign that the population aspires to “peace, stability, and a better life”. China regularly warns against “Taiwanese pro-independence forces and interference from abroad”.
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