Taiwan’s KMT cruises to mayoral win on anti-DPP electoral wave
Disenchantment with the ruling party’s policies helps propel Kuomintang candidate across the line in race in tourism-dependent city, analyst says
A victory by the Kuomintang in a weekend mayoral race is a small but significant win, reflecting electoral dissatisfaction with the ruling Democratic Progressive Party’s performance, including its cross-strait policy, an analyst says.
KMT candidate Wei Chia-hsien defeated his DPP opponent Chang Mei-hui by a comfortable 17,923 votes to 13,958 in the election for mayor of Hualien on Saturday.
Wang Kung-yi, professor of international relations and strategic studies at Tamkang University in Taiwan, said one of the major reasons for Wei’s win was voter unhappiness with the policies of President Tsai Ing-wen, “including those related to cross-strait relations”.
Tsai, from the independence-leaning DPP, was inaugurated on May 20.
Wang said Hualien, on the island’s east coast, was dependent on tourism and used to be a popular destination for mainland visitors.
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