HISTORY: Elections for mayors, county chiefs and local councilors are ostensibly about national issues such as the COVID-19 pandemic and crime, and elected officials will have no say in Chinese politics.
But Tsai had reframed the election as more than a local vote, saying the world was watching as Taiwan defended its democracy amid military tensions with China, which claims the island as its territory.
The main opposition Kuomintang, or KMT, led or claimed victory in 13 of the 21 mayoral and county leader seats up for grabs, including the capital Taipei, compared to the DPP’s five, largely in line expectations and similar to the results of the last municipal elections in 2018.