Taiwan's ruling Democratic Progressive Party suffered a crushing defeat in recent local elections, contests that are seen as a prelude to the 2024 presidential vote. The party won only five mayoral and county leadership races out of 21 up for grabs, prompting President Tsai Ing-wen to announce her resignation as head of the DPP. The party must reflect long and hard on its defeat at the ballot box.
The DPP, which is cool toward China, won the presidential election in 2020, and the Tsai administration is now in its second term. But just as it did four years ago, the party struggled in local elections. Chiang Wan-an, a young candidate from the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) and the great-grandson of former leader Chiang Kai-shek, won the mayoral race in Taipei.
