In a move induced by the fear of the Chinese incursion, Taiwan reelected their incumbent president during Saturday's election. Tsai Ing-Wen has garnered more than 8 million votes the most a presidential election has seen since 1996 when the country started holding direct elections. Han Kuo-yu, who supported closer ties to the Chinese government was defeated easily during the elections. Much of the election was prompted by the Hong Kong protests.
Around 14 million citizens of the country travelled to their hometown to cast their votes. Tsai's party maintained their majority even in the legislature during the elections. The increased intimidation by China is being seen as the key factor in the election win.
The fruits of the win after the 2018 loss
The party had suffered a major loss during their 2018 mid-term elections. But the comeback is sweeter for them because of the rising tension in the Taiwan strait, Hong Kong pro-democracy protests, and even several missteps by their opposition in supporting China during the elections.
During the election campaign and run-up, China had sent its aircraft carrier to the strait which caused the citizens to fear the intimidation of a forced incursion by the Chinese government. During a speech last year, the Chinese Premier had said that he wouldn't use any force while asking Taiwan to be a part of China's 'one country-two system' feature.
When Tsai was elected for the first time in Taiwan, China had made sure that few of their allies would stop addressing the country as an independent nation and stop any travel of the Chinese tourists to the country.
During a rally in Taiwan after her win on Saturday, she had said: "democratic Taiwan and our democratically elected government will not concede to threats and intimidation."
The election commission said that around 8.17 million voters chose Tsai as their new president. The margin of the victory came to 57 percent of the popular vote. Half a year ago, she had been behind her opponent by several votes but the present condition in Hong Kong and the pro-democracy fights of the students there led the people of Taiwan to look at China differently.
