Lai Ching-te has won the Taiwanese Presidential election, held over the weekend.
Lai was a candidate of the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and won 40% of the vote, in a three-way race.
Hou Yu-ih of the Kuomintang (KMT) managed a third of the vote, while Ko Wen-je of the Taiwanese People’s Party came third, with just over a quarter of the vote.
There will be no second round or runoff, and Lai will be inaugurated as President in May.
This is only the second time since 2000 that the winning candidate has failed to win more than 50% of the vote.
Following confirmation of his victory, Lai said in a statement that he hoped that ‘China will recognize the new situation, and understand that only peace benefits both sides of the strait.’ He also thanked his opponents and said that Taiwan had shown the world that in the choice between democracy and authoritarianism it had chosen the former.
In reaction to the result, the Chinese government said that the DPP did not represent mainstream Taiwanese opinion and that there was only one China, which Taiwan was part of, and the result did not change that fact.
In the parallel legislative election, the KMT fared better, winning 52 of the 113 available seats. The DPP was second with 51 seats. The only other party which secured representation was the TPP with eight seats, while two independents were also elected.