Despite China’s warning not to vote, William Lai also known as Lai Ching Te from the ruling Progressive Democratic Party won Taiwan’s Presidential election. Lai accumulated around 40% of the vote share after counting was done from over 90% of polling stations.
In a competition
Taiwan President-elect Lai Ching-te, of Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP)
against two other candidates, including Hou Yu-ih from the conservative Kuomintang (KMT) and former Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je from the Taiwan People’s Party.
Lai, 64, grew up poor in a coal-mining village in northern Taiwan. His father, a miner, died in a coal mine disaster when he was two years old. Lai was brought up by his mother alongside five siblings.
Lai studied medicine at prestigious universities in Taiwan and went on to receive a master’s degree in public health from Harvard.
When Taiwan ended nearly 40 yrs of martial law in the late 1980s and initiated political reforms, Lai gave up his medical practice for politics. He was first elected as a lawmaker in 1998 then became the mayor of Tainan City in 2010
