Taiwanese presidential elections are set to hold on January 11, 2019.
The Candidates
The two major candidates contesting for the presidency are incumbent Tsai Ing-wen of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and Han Kuo-yu of the Kuomintang (KMT) who have opposing views on significant economic, security and social issues and, more specifically, regarding China policy and Taiwan’s identity.
While Han favours closer ties to China and agrees with the view that Taiwan and China are part of the same country, President Tsai insists on Taiwan’s independence and that China poses a threat to their democracy.
How Taiwan Elections Work
The president and vice president are elected on the same ticket, via a first-past-the-post voting system where voters indicate the candidate of their choice on the ballot and the candidate who receives the most votes wins.
Parties that receive more than five per cent of the total vote share in the last election at any level, are eligible to contest the elections while independent candidates and smaller parties are also eligible to contest by the way of joint signature shall do so within five days after the public notice for election is issued.
On Beijing’s Interference
Beijing has been accused of backing Han and engaging in disinformation to influence the Taiwanese election. These campaigns use fake news stories, bots and fake social media accounts and propaganda, targeted attacks aimed at stealing sensitive government data and personal information among other tactics. China also reportedly launches tens of millions of cyberattacks per month in Taiwan.
The goal of the disinformation campaigns is to sway the election in Han’s favour. However, citizen groups in Taiwan took to the streets on the 30th of December 2019 to protest against this interference.
Bottomline
President Tsai has called for the resistance of these attacks from China and said the Taiwanese people will “never accept” the one country, two systems.
“Democracy and authoritarianism cannot coexist within the same country. Hong Kong’s people have shown us that ‘one country, two systems’ is absolutely not viable.”
Also, while China’s interference seeks to work against President Tsai, opinion polls show she has a wide margin against her closest opponent, Han. The presence of a third independent candidate may also increase her chances of returning as president.
