By Zahra Matarani and Joseph Campbell
TAIPEI/TAINAN, Taiwan (Reuters) – Taiwan’s three main political parties will hold mass rallies on Friday evening in a final push for support ahead of critical presidential and parliamentary elections happening against a backdrop of increased Chinese pressure on the island.
Taiwan has been a democratic success story since holding its first direct presidential election in 1996, the culmination of decades of struggle against authoritarian rule and martial law.
The ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which champions Taiwan’s separate identity and rejects China’s territorial claims, is seeking a third term in office with its candidate, current Vice President Lai Ching-te.
In the run up to Saturday’s election, China repeatedly denounced Lai as a dangerous separatist and rebuffed repeated calls from him for talks.
Lai says he is committed to preserving peace across the Taiwan Strait, but has accused China of seeking to interfere in the vote by spreading disinformation and putting further military and economic pressure on the island which Beijing views as “sacred” Chinese territory.
“We are not afraid” of China, said tech worker Charlie Lee, 61. “We already have a very strong democratic identity and will fight to the end.”
Lai is facing two opponents for the presidency – Hou Yu-ih of Taiwan’s largest opposition party the Kuomintang (KMT) and former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je of the small Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), only founded in 2019.
Hou wants to re-start engagement with China, beginning with people-to-people exchanges and has, like China, accused Lai of supporting Taiwan’s formal independence. Lai says Hou is pro-Beijing, which Hou rejects.
The KMT and TPP say Taiwan needs a change of government after eight years of DPP rule, though an effort by the two parties late last year to form a joint ticket to take on the DPP collapsed in acrimony.
The DPP and KMT will both hold their final rallies Friday evening in Taipei’s neighbouring New Taipei, while the TPP has the prime spot in central Taipei near the presidential office. Tens of thousands are expected to attend each event.
CHINA LOOMS LARGE
In the southern city of Tainan, a traditional DPP stronghold where Lai was once mayor, KMT lawmaker Charles Chen said people were dissatisfied with the DPP.
“Judging from the canvassing and campaign activities we’ve held over the past few months, we can successfully say that support has significantly increased” for the KMT, he told Reuters.
But DPP Tainan legislator Wang Ting-yu said while he believed the party would do well, they would need to work hard to obtain as many votes as outgoing President Tsai Ing-wen received in 2020.
“So for this year’s election, aside from the usual issues, I think that this time China’s interference in Taiwan’s election is probably the most serious to date,” Wang said.
The DPP and KMT alike face a formidable challenge from the TPP, seeking to break the mould of two-party politics.
“This political status quo has led to an increasing wave of people hoping for reform. It has also pushed the TPP, which represents Taiwan’s third force, onto the stage of Taiwan’s politics,” the TPP’s Ko told foreign reporters in Taipei on Friday.
Ko has won a passionate support base, especially among young voters, for focusing on bread and butter issues like the high cost of housing. He also wants to re-engage China, but insists that cannot come at the expense of protecting Taiwan’s democracy and way of life.
Tainan farmer Liu Ruen-shui, 70, plans to vote for the KMT.
“This is the most important (election) so far,” Liu said. “Because if there’s no change, things will just get worse and worse to the point of no return.”
No matter who wins, China looms in the background.
Taiwan’s government believes China is likely to attempt to put pressure on its incoming president after the island votes, including staging military manoeuvres near the island this spring, two senior government officials said.
Polls open at 8.00 a.m. (0000 GMT) and close at 4.00 p.m. (0800 GMT), with ballot counting by hand starting almost at once. There is no electronic, absentee, proxy or early voting.
The result should be clear by late evening Saturday when the losers concede and the winner gives a victory speech.
Tsai is constitutionally bared from standing again after two terms in office.
For an in-depth look at the election listen now to a special edition of the Reuters World News podcast.
(Reporting by Zahra Matarani and Joseph Campbell; Writing by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Michael Perry)
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