Taiwan elects first female president

The prime minister handed his resignation to Taiwan’s outgoing President Ma Ying-jeou, the China Times newspaper reported.

Voters lined up Saturday at polling stations, and when they closed, surveys suggested that Tsai Ing-wen, leader of the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), would win the presidential vote by a significant margin after eight years under the government of the pro-China Kuomintang (KMT) or Nationalist Party.

Opposition candidate Tsai Ing-wen has been elected Taiwan’s first female president.

Tsai Ing-wen. Photo: HKFP/Wikicommons.

“I am sorry to disappoint you”.

Chu also said the KMT had lost its parliamentary majority, the first time it has ever lost control of the island’s legislature. “The new president would take us one step forward”.

China and Taiwan parted ways in 1949, when the Nationalist Party (KMT) was forced to retreat to Taiwan by the Chinese Communist Party.

Jubilant crowds gathered at the DPP headquarters in Taipei, where Tsai was due to speak later Saturday.

For the global community, the outcome of the polls is a determiner for Taiwan’s amorphous relationship with China, which views the territory as a renegade province that can be re-taken by force if necessary.

Most of the world’s countries – including the U.S., Taiwan’s most important backer – do not acknowledge Taiwan as an independent nation.

Some analysts have predicted that it would lead to a cooling of relations between Taipei and Beijing as Tsai does not recognise the “one China” policy.

Analysts also agree there will not be any immediate backlash from China, as alienating Taiwan would play against Beijing’s ultimate aim of reunification.