The counting of votes began in Taiwan’s presidential election which was held in the shadow of threats from China which warned that if the Taiwanese chose the wrong leader it could set the stage for war on the self-ruled island. News agencies AFP and BBC citing their journalists said counting began shortly after voting ended at 4pm (local time).
The BBC said that all three presidential candidates have gained more than 1 million votes so far, citing local news media outlets. According to news agency Bloomberg and till the time of writing this report, current vice president Lai Ching-te of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is leading the polls with around 43.2% of the votes cast.
Trailing him is Kuomintang’s Hou Yu-ih who secured around 35.8% of the votes at the time of writing this report. The Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) candidate Ko Wen-je is trailing behind with around 21% of the votes.
The votes in Taiwan are counted by hand in each polling station, and then tallied across the island. The Taiwanese are voting for both a president and a legislature.
Taiwanese news outlets said that 70.6% of the voting-eligible population in the capital city Taipei turned out for the election. Taipei had the same turnout during the last presidential elections in 2020. A separate report by AFP said that 20 million cast their ballots in fine, sunny weather.
Results are expected Saturday evening, with the outcome watched closely by both Beijing and Washington.
In Taiwan, the publishing of polls within 10 days of elections is barred. However, political observers tell news agencies that 64-year-old Lai is expected to win the top job but his party, the DPP, could lose its parliamentary majority. Strict election laws also effectively prevent the media from asking voters about their specific choices on polling day, news agency AFP said in a report.
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