William Lai Ching-te won Taiwan's presidential election, despite warnings from China not to vote for him.
Lai of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) won 40.2 percent of the votes cast on Saturday, according to partial results from the Central Election Commission after 98 percent of polling stations closed.
Lai vowed to be “on the side of democracy” and defend the self-ruled island from “bullying” by China, which claims Taiwan as part of its territory.
Lai, the current vice president, was in a three-way race with Hou Yu-ih of the conservative Kuomintang (KMT) and former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je of the Taiwan People's Party (TPP).
The DPP favors a higher international profile for Taiwan as a de facto independent state, while the KMT promised closer ties with China but potentially better economic relations, and the TPP, founded in 2019, offered an untested but new third way among the others. . parties.
Taiwan's elections are of enormous significance due to the territory's disputed political status. Although it has been self-governed since the 1940s, China still claims the island and its outlying territories and has not ruled out using force to achieve its ambitions.
In the run-up to the election, China denounced Lai as a dangerous separatist, said he would be a threat to peace in the region if he won, and called the election a choice between “peace and war.”
Voters also elected politicians to Taiwan's 113-seat legislature on Saturday.
The DPP has been in power for the past eight years under President Tsai Ing-wen.
Some 19.5 million people aged 20 or older had the right to vote.
