2020 Taiwanese presidential election

2020 Taiwanese presidential election

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Opinion polls
Registered19,311,105
Turnout74.90% (Increase8.63pp)
 
Nominee Tsai Ing-wen Han Kuo-yu
Party DPP KMT
Running mate Lai Ching-te Chang San-cheng
Popular vote 8,170,231 5,522,119
Percentage 57.13% 38.61%


President before election

Tsai Ing-wen
DPP

Elected President

Tsai Ing-wen
DPP

Presidential elections were held in Taiwan on 11 January 2020 alongside Legislative Yuan election. Incumbent president Tsai Ing-wen and former premier Lai Ching-te of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) won the election, defeating Kaohsiung mayor Han Kuo-yu of the Kuomintang (KMT) and his running mate Chang San-cheng, as well as third-party candidate James Soong.[1][2]

Following major losses during the 2018 Taiwanese local elections, Tsai Ing-wen resigned from her party's chairmanship and was challenged in the primary contest by former Premier Lai Ching-te, himself a former Tsai appointee. The Kuomintang also ran a competitive primary, which saw Han Kuo-yu, initially reluctant to run, defeat former presidential candidate and New Taipei mayor Eric Chu, and Foxconn chief executive Terry Gou.

Both domestic issues and Cross-Strait relations featured in the campaign, with Han attacking Tsai for her perceived failures in labour reform, economic management, and dealing with corruption of her aides. However, Tsai's strong response to Beijing's increasing pressures on Taiwan to accede to a unification agreement, amid the backdrop of the intensely followed Hong Kong anti-extradition protests, proved crucial in her recapturing broad support.

The elections had a turnout of 74.9%, the highest among nationwide elections since 2008. Tsai won a record 8.17 million votes, representing 57.1% of the popular vote, the highest vote share won by a DPP candidate in presidential elections.[3] The DPP received a higher share of the vote in major metropolitan areas, reversing the KMT's fortunes in Kaohsiung and environs, while the Kuomintang retained strength in limited eastern regions and off-island constituencies. Tsai and Lai were inaugurated on 20 May 2020.

  1. ^ "Taiwan opposition candidate admits defeat in presidential election". Reuters. 11 January 2020. Archived from the original on 22 January 2020. Retrieved 11 January 2020.
  2. ^ Kuo, Lily (11 January 2020). "Taiwan re-elects Tsai Ing-Wen as president in clear message to China". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 11 January 2020. Retrieved 11 January 2020.
  3. ^ 黃欣柏、吳書緯 (11 January 2020). "連任成功!蔡英文817萬票史上最高 樹立「小英障礙」". Liberty Times. Archived from the original on 11 January 2020. Retrieved 12 January 2020.