An opponent of China leads the preliminary results of the presidential elections in Taiwan: “It is a danger”, warns Beijing

Lai Ching-te, favorite in Taiwan’s presidential elections and considered a “danger” by China Thanks to his positions in favor of the island’s independence, he is leading Saturday’s elections, according to the first official results.

Hours after the polls closed, Lai Ching-te -member of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and current vice president of Taiwan- he received 41.5% of the votesaccording to the official results of more than 63% of voting centers.

His main opponent, Hou Yu-ih, the Kuomintang (KMT) candidate who supports a rapprochement with Beijing, received 33.2% of the votes. Further behind is the candidate of the Taiwan People’s Party (PPT), Ko Wen-je, who has 25.33%.

Until now, None of the candidates have commented publicly on the results.which are in line with previous investigations.

If this trend were confirmed, it would be the first time since the first democratic elections in 1996 that the same party remained in government for three consecutive terms.

Taiwan’s current president, Tsai Ing-wen (PDP), has held the island’s highest office since 2016, but He could not run for a third term due to a constitutional limitation.

More than 19.5 million Taiwanese had the right to vote and elect their new president a context marked by the escalation of tensions with China.

The PDP candidate, who previously called himself a “pragmatic worker for Taiwan independence”presented these elections as a struggle between “democracy” and “autocracy”, while the KMT candidate reiterated that only a victory for the opposition, more inclined to dialogue with Beijing, could avoid a “war” with China.

Beijing, which considers the island governed autonomously since 1949 as a rebel province, has harshly criticized the PDP candidate in recent weeksaccusing him of being a “separatist” and “lacking moral integrity”.

On this day the Taiwanese also voted for the renewal of the 113 seats that make up the Legislative Yuan (Parliament), the new configuration of which will be announced during the night.