Taiwan has officially voted in their next president. Branded by China as a "troublemaker", voters have opted for pro-sovereignty candidate William Lai as their president.
“The election has shown the world the commitment of the Taiwanese people to democracy, which I hope China can understand,” Lai told thousands of supporters at a rally after his win.
The move angered Beijing, which issued a statement after the results insisting that "Taiwan is part of China".
Beijing has called for "peaceful reunification" – however, it has also not ruled out the use of force. It described the Taiwan election as a choice between "war and peace".
Taiwan is a democratic island and governs itself – but mainland China claims that it has no international recognition as a country.
Here is everything you need to know about the election.
Who is Lai Ching-te, winner of the election?
Taiwan's new president is 64-year-old Lai Ching-te, also known as William Lai. This is the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) third term in power, the first time this has happened for any party since Taiwan became a democracy in 1996.
But Lai isn't everyone's biggest fan. Beijing has been trying to talk Taiwanese voters out of voting for him, suggesting that he will be the one bringing war to the island.
China's Taiwan Affairs Office spokesman Chen Binhua recently added that he believes Lai will be trying to follow an "evil path" towards "military tension and war".
In 2017, Lai called himself a "worker for Taiwanese independence." He favours preserving the current status-quo in regards to the political status of Taiwan.
Born to a coalmining family in Wanli, New Taipei City, Lai has a Master's degree in public health from the Harvard School of Public Health. He later became an expert on spinal-cord damage and served as a national consultant for such injuries.
He first joined the political world after being part of the support team for Chen Ding-nan's unsuccessful electoral bid for Governor of Taiwan Province in 1994.
He is married with two sons.
What was the vote share?
Lai Ching-te won with a little more than 40 per cent of the votes, garnering 5,586,019 votes. Hou Yu-ih and his running mate Jaw Shau-kon of the opposition Kuomintang received 4,671,021 votes, or 33.49 per cent, while Ko Wen-je of the Taiwan People's Party, who partnered with Wu Hsin-ying, came third with 3,690,466 votes, or 26.46 per cent.
No party has secured a majority in the election. The previous main party DPP, lost 10 seats, while rival party KMT gained 14, and the TPP gained three.
What was the turnout?
The election on Saturday, which began at 8am and ended at 4pm, saw a total of 14,048,310 votes cast, representing a turnout of 71.86 per cent, according to the commission.
This turnout marks a reduction of around 3% from 2020, and hundreds of thousands less voters.
