TAIWAN – Taiwan’s Vice-President Lai Ching-te is leading the first poll since China-friendly opposition parties failed in their last-ditch efforts to form an alliance aimed at winning the presidential election in January.
Mr Lai of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) got the support of 34 per cent of respondents in the survey conducted from Nov 24 to 26 by broadcaster TVBS. The results were released on Nov 27.
Mr Hou Yu-ih of the Kuomintang (KMT) was second with 31 per cent and Dr Ko Wen-je of the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) had 23 per cent. The margin of error for the poll is 2.3 percentage points.
A deal that Mr Hou and Dr Ko reached to run together fell apart on Nov 23 over who would lead the ticket.
Mr Hou and senior KMT figures, including former president Ma Ying-jeou, walked out of an acrimonious media event that was called to broker a deal.
Mr Hou and Dr Ko later announced running mates and officially registered to run as president on their own tickets.
The collapse of the alliance should improve Mr Lai’s chances at victory by splitting the opposition vote between two candidates.
An administration under the DPP, which has sought to strengthen Taiwan’s ties with the US and its allies as a counterweight to China, would further obstruct Chinese President Xi Jinping’s stated goal of bringing Taiwan under Beijing’s control.
China has said in the past it does not interfere in Taiwan’s elections but on Nov 27 it criticised Mr Lai.
Mr Chen Binhua, a spokesman for the government department in Beijing that handles issues related to Taiwan, said in a statement that the people of the island should understand that a “Taiwan independence pursuer” such as the DPP candidate is a “troublemaker” and “war instigator”.
Mr Lai has referred to himself as “political worker for Taiwanese independence”.
China claims Taiwan as part of its territory, and while it has pledged to seek peaceful unification, Beijing has also not ruled out the use of force.
A separate poll released on Nov 27 by the Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation that was conducted between Nov 19 and 21 had Dr Ko leading with the support of 31.9 per cent of respondents. Mr Lai came in with 29.2 per cent and Mr Hou 23.6 per cent.
That survey was conducted too early to capture the reaction to the joint ticket talks collapsing between TPP and KMT.
BLOOMBERG
