Taiwan’s Ruling Party Declares Victory in Election on China Ties

President Ma Ying-jeou’s Kuomintang party declared victory in Taiwan’s election, a win that would give the incumbent a renewed mandate to press for closer ties with China that have eased decades-old tensions across the Taiwan Strait.

Ma, the 61-year-old leader of the ruling Kuomintang Party, was leading challenger Tsai Ing-wen, the Democratic Progressive Party candidate, 51.9 percent to 45.3 percent with more than 11 million votes counted, Taiwan’s television network TVBS reported. Other networks including Sanlih TV reported similar results. Taiwan has 18 million eligible voters.