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2012 ELECTIONS: Ma
savors victory as KMT celebrates
‘TAIWAN COURSE’: Amid light rain, the president
took the stage and attributed his victory to improving cross-strait relations
and the public’s insistence on integrity
By Mo Yan-chih / Staff Reporter
Supporters of President Ma Ying-jeou
gather to follow the election results outside Ma’s campaign headquarters in
Taipei yesterday.
Photo: CNA
President Ma Ying-jeou speaks to
supporters in Taipei yesterday as he celebrates his successful re-election bid.
Photo: Pichi Chuang / Reuters
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)
supporters celebrate President Ma Ying-jeou’s re-election yesterday at the KMT’s
campaign headquarters in Taipei.
Photo: Jason Lee / Reuters
A man shouts and makes a victory
sign while following the results of yesterday’s elections in Taipei.
Photo: CNA
“Congratulations, everyone! We have won,”
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) shouted to his cheering supporters who gathered at
his national campaign headquarters in Taipei last night to celebrate his
re-election.
Ma and his running mate, Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義), won the nation’s fifth direct
presidential election, garnering 51.6 percent of the vote to defeat Democratic
Progressive Party (DPP) candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and her vice presidential
candidate, Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全).
However, Ma’s win was less convincing than the 58.45 percent of the vote he
secured in the 2008 presidential election, in which he beat the DPP’s Frank
Hsieh (謝長廷), who received 41.55 percent of the vote, by more than 2 million
votes. Ma fought a tough battle to secure re-election, defeating Tsai by 797,561
votes.
People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜), who had been cast in the
role of spoiler by the pan-blue camp, obtained 369,588 votes, which might
suggest that many voted strategically to avoid a split in the pan-blue vote.
Supporters began to gather in Taipei outside Ma’s campaign headquarters on Bade
Road, next to the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) headquarters, soon after
voting booths closed nationwide at 4pm. The area outside the headquarters filled
up with pan-blue voters avidly watching the election results on a big screen.
The crowd started cheering when the Ma camp announced that the Ma-Wu ticket was
leading the Tsai-Su ticket by more than 500,000 votes at about 5:30pm, shouting
“It’s not enough,” “Go, Go, Go, Ma Ying-jeou.”
Before Ma’s appearance, KMT heavyweights, including Vice President Vincent Siew
(蕭萬長), Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平), former KMT chairman Lien Chan
(連戰) and former KMT deputy chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄), as well as Lien’s son
Sean Lien (連勝文), appeared on stage and thanked voters for their support, saying
that the KMT would continue to humbly lead the nation.
Acknowledging that Ma had been forced to fight a challenging battle, Lien Chan
said the KMT would reflect on the criticism it had received during the election
campaign and examine its performance.
“The KMT’s victory is significant as it is a recognition of our dedication to
defending the Republic of China and building a clean government,” Lien Chan
said.
Ma’s camp did not formally declare victory until after 8pm, by which time the
Central Election Commission had officially counted 90 percent of the votes. Ma
and Wu then walked onto the stage more than an hour behind schedule to celebrate
with thousands of excited supporters, who set off air horns and shouted:
“President Ma, we love you.”
As it started to rain, Ma raised both his hands and gave victory signs as he
celebrated victory.
“This is not my victory, but a victory for the Taiwanese people. This is a
victory for our pursuit of integrity, prosperity and peace in Taiwan,” Ma said.
The president attributed his victory to the people’s insistence on integrity and
his success in improving cross-strait relations. He promised to continue leading
the country on what he called a “Taiwan course” with more reforms.
Ma thanked his rivals for playing an important role in ensuring a peaceful
presidential election and promised to consider much of the advice offered by
Tsai and Soong during the campaign.
“We will continue to seek cooperation with opposition parties and my
administration will invite all party leaders to discuss national affairs every
six months,” he said.
Ma also thanked his wife, first lady Chow Mei-ching (周美青), for being the
“harshest opposition party member” who never hesitated to correct his mistakes
and offer him honest advice.
The couple then took a bow with the campaign team to thank voters for their
support.
During a press conference at his campaign headquarters, Ma later vowed to
further revitalize the nation’s economy by seeking membership of the
Trans-Pacific Partnership and working to narrow the income gap.
He said his administration would deepen cross-strait cooperation and maintain
cross-strait peace while defending the sovereignty of the country during his
second term.
“I will control the pace [of our cross-strait policies] to make sure we have
public support ... I will continue to ensure developments in cross-strait
relations remain evenly paced over the next four years,” he said when answering
questions about his policies toward China.
Ma said his administration would continue to focus on cross-strait cooperation
in economy-related areas, but had no plans to engage in political negotiation
for the foreseeable future.
When asked to comment about his victory, Ma attributed his success to public
expectations for a strong economy and promised to work harder to revive Taiwan’s
economic fortunes.
“We received the people’s message loud and clear and we promise to do everything
we can so that people can see how hard we are working,” he said.
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