Taiwan has begun this Saturday the recount of votes in an election day is crucial to determine the support of the president’s progressive Tsai Ing-wen, and whose results can have consequences on the relationship with China, the great power on the other side of the strait, which considers the island as an inalienable part of its territory.
at stake Are the mayors of 22 cities, of which 13 are in the hands of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP, for its acronym in English) Tsai, and close to 11,000 posts of municipal authority. But in addition to being voted a dozen referéndos, five of them on equal rights for the LGBT community -including gay marriage-. Also the citizens will be able to express themselves on the name by which the island should participate in international sporting competitions (since 1981 is “chinese Taipei”).
On a day of mild and dry autumn, the queues to participate have been long throughout the day. These elections are the first since the elections of 2016 in which they razed the DPP and Tsai in which the citizenship can decide on the management of the president, whose popularity has fallen after a series of internal reforms heavily criticised by the opposition Kuomintang (KMT), and even within his own party. The results will be an important indication of the prospects facing the head of State before the presidential elections at the beginning of 2020, in a little over a year.
Bahsegel The neighbor chinese
Arrive also in the midst of a rising awareness of national identity and accusations about the spread of “fake news” and disinformation in the election campaign and the financing of china candidates by taiwanese companies are installed in mainland China.
Since the coming to power of Tsai, whose party pro-independence taiwanese, Beijing has hardened its position towards the island and increased its military pressure and policy. Terminated the diplomatic truce that existed during the KMT government headed by Ma Ying-jeou (2008-2016) and has been ripped away from their allies to the Taipei government, now recognized officially only by 17 countries.
China has also increased its pressure on foreign governments and companies to comply with their interpretation of the doctrine of the “One China”: the version of the Beijing considers the island an independent country de facto, but a province of its territory. This year, airlines and producers of foreign consumer goods have been forced to include “China” after the word “Taiwan” in their sales pages on the internet, for fear of boycotts.
“This is a democratic society, people can express their opinions on different topics”, said Tsai to go today to their polling station. “I hope that everybody vote”.
Among the key findings of the count will be the mayor of Kaohsiung, the main city in the south of the island and a traditional stronghold of the DPP. Although initially there was the certainty of victory of the candidate of this party, Chen Chi-mai, the surveys indicate a rapid increase in the popularity of the representative of the KMT, Have Kuo Yu, one of the candidates who have been accused of get benefits from the campaigns of false news.