Vote count begins as polling comes to an end in Taiwan elections

The counting of votes began as polling came to an end in Taiwan’s presidential and parliamentary elections on Saturday.

Millions of eligible voters cast their votes in a total of 17,794 polling stations set up across the island nation of 24 million people.

The island’s eighth presidential election is being viewed as one of the most consequential in recent history.

Taiwan's Legislative Assembly has 113 seats, serving four-year terms, 73 of which will be decided on Saturday, six are reserved for indigenous candidates, while the remaining 34 will be picked by proportional representation.

Vice President William Lai Ching-te from the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is running against the opposition Kuomintang’s Hou Yu-ih and TaiwanPeople’s Party (TPP) nominee Ko Wen-je.

Under the DPP, Taiwan has seen more engagement with Western nations led by the US, much to the chagrin of Beijing.

Kuomintang, or Nationalist, on the other hand, has campaigned for more engagement with Beijing.

Taiwan began holding its first direct presidential elections in 1996 and the last two elections saw turnouts of 74.9% in 2020 and 66.27% in 2016.

*Writing by Islamuddin Sajid