TAIPEI: Attention is turning to Taiwan’s next presidential election in 2024 after the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was thrashed at local elections on Saturday (Nov 26), with President Tsai Ing-wen’s move to focus on China backfiring with voters.
The main opposition party the Kuomintang, or KMT, romped to victory in the mayoral and county elections.
The KMT won 13 of the 21 seats up for grabs, including the wealthy and cosmopolitan capital of Taipei, in line with expectations, although none of those elected have a direct say in policies on China.
China views the island as its own territory and has been ramping up military activities to assert those claims, fuelling global concern especially given Taiwan’s major role as a semiconductor producer.
The KMT traditionally favours close ties with China but strongly denies being pro-Beijing. It had been on the back foot since 2020’s presidential election loss, and also suffered a blow last December after four referendums it had championed as a show of no confidence in Tsai’s government failed.
Speaking to reporters late on Saturday at party headquarters, its chairman Eric Chu said the KMT understood that only by uniting could it win the next presidential election.
“Taiwan’s people have given us an opportunity,” he said. “Being selfless is the only chance that the KMT could win the 2024 election.”
Ms Tsai resigned as DPP chairwoman after the defeat, the worst showing in the party’s history, and is now left with just five mayor or county chief positions.
She had framed the vote as being about showing defiance to China’s rising bellicosity, especially after it held war games near the island in August and President Xi Jinping, who has vowed to bring Taiwan under Chinese control, won an unprecedented third term in office last month.
ELECTION STRATEGY BACKFIRED
But Ms Tsai’s strategy failed to mobilise voters, who disassociated geopolitics from the local elections, which traditionally focus more on bread-and-butter issues from crime to pollution.
Turnout on Saturday was at record low, just 59 per cent for Taiwan’s six most important cities, compared to an overall figure of around 75 per cent in 2020.
