Taiwan goes to polls with future of democracy on line

Voting for Taiwan elections began at 8 am on Saturday and wraps up at 4 pm. Tsai Ing-wen and her main challenger, Han Kuo-yu of the Nationalist Party, both voted shortly after polls opened.

Associated Press

Taipei

January 11, 2020

UPDATED: January 11, 2020 11:31 IST

Taiwanese President and presidential election candidate Tsai Ing-wen emerges from a voting booth. (Photo: AP)

The future of Taiwan's democracy is on the line as the self-ruled island's 19 million voters decide on whether to give independence-leaning President Tsai Ing-wen a second term.

Voting began at 8 am on Saturday and wraps up at 4 pm. The vote count will begin soon after, with results expected later in the evening.

Tsai and her main challenger, Han Kuo-yu of the Nationalist Party, both voted shortly after polls opened. Han voted in Kaohsiung, the city in southern Taiwan where he is mayor.

I hope every citizen can come out and vote," Tsai said after casting her vote in Taipei, the capital.

You should exercise your rights to make democracy stronger in Taiwan," Tsai said.

For many in Taiwan, months of protests in Hong Kong have cast in stark relief the contrast between their democratically governed island and authoritarian, communist-ruled mainland China.

Tsai said at a final campaign rally Friday night that the election was a chance to protect Taiwan's democracy.

Let us tell the world with our own votes that Taiwanese are determined to defend sovereignty, determined to guard democracy and determined to persist in reforms, she said.

The Nationalist Party's Han has said Taiwan should be more open to negotiations with China, in contrast to Tsai, who has dismissed Beijing's overtures. At his last rally, attended by hundreds of thousands of people in the southern port city of Kaohsiung, he focused on practical issues such as improving education and the economy.

I want to attract massive investments. I want products to be exported non-stop, he said.