KMT legislator and former presidential candidate Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) was elected as Taiwan’s new legislative speaker on Thursday, beginning a new period of divided government.
Voting for legislative speaker kicked off on Thursday morning. In the first round of votes, KMT’s Han Kuo-yu won 54 votes, You Si-kun (游錫堃) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) won 51 votes, and Huang Shan-shan (黃珊珊) of the Taiwan’s People Party (TPP) won 7 votes, with one vote ruled to be invalid. With none of the three candidates securing a majority of 57 votes, the top two candidates faced off in a second round of voting.
During the second round, TPP legislators cast no votes, just as they had promised to do the previous day. The result was a straight party-line vote, with KMT’s Han receiving 54 votes, against You Si-kun’s 51 votes.
With the KMT now in control of the speakership and the DPP in control of the Presidential Office, Taiwan has entered a period of divided government.