Taiwan oppn wins big in local vote as Prez’s China bait fails

Taiwan’s main opposition KMT candidate Chiang Wan-an won the Taipei mayoral election. Pic/AFP

Taiwan's main opposition party, the Kuomintang (KMT), stomped home to victory in local elections on Saturday as President Tsai Ing-wen's efforts to frame the vote as being about showing defiance to China's rising bellicosity failed to pay off.

The elections for mayors, county chiefs and local councillors are ostensibly about domestic issues such as the COVID-19 pandemic and crime, and those elected will not have a direct say on China policy. But Tsai, who leads the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), had recast the election as being more than a local vote, saying the world is watching how Taiwan defends its democracy amid military tensions with China, which claims the island as its territory.

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After the result, Tsai offered her resignation and gave a short speech in which she also thanked supporters. She said she will shoulder the responsibility as she had hand-picked candidates in Saturday's elections. Chiang Wan-an, the Nationalist party's mayoral candidate, won the closely watched seat in capital Taipei. The KMT claimed victory in 13 of the 21 city mayor and county chief seats up for grabs, including the capital Taipei, compared to the DPP's five.

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