By Islamuddin Sajid
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AA) – Vote count has begun for Taiwan's presidential and parliamentary elections on Saturday.
Millions of voters took part in the polls, local media reported.
Unofficial results show that incumbent President Tsai Ing-wen is maintaining a lead over main opposition Kuomintang (KMT) candidate Han Kuo-yu and People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong, daily Taiwan News reported
Tsai is running for the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) with ex-premier William Lai as her vice-presidential running mate.
Earlier on Saturday morning, a total of 17,226 polling stations across Taiwan opened at 8 a.m. local time and closed at 4 p.m. Each voter has cast three votes: one for the president, the second for their local legislator, and third for the party.
In the 2016 elections, the DPP picked up 68 seats and defeated the then ruling KMT, which had secured 35 seats of the 113-seat state legislature. Tsai became the country's first female leader.
It was the first time the pro-China KMT, which had controlled the government for eight years, lost control of the island's legislature.
The DPP has traditionally taken a pro-independence stance and has not historically recognized the "one China" policy.
