President Tsai won DPP’s presidential primary

President Tsai Ing-wen will represent the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in the 2020 presidential election.   On June 13, DPP Chairman Cho Jung-tai announced that Tsai defeated former Premier Lai Ching-te in the polls conducted in the last three days.    The polls were conducted by five different pollsters in a three-way manner.  The poll compared the popularity of Tsai and Lai against Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (most likely a KMT candidate) and independent Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je.  Tsai beat Lai by 8.2 percentage point.  Comparing Tsai-Han-Ko, Tsai received an average support rate of 35.67%, while Han and Ko received support rates of 22.7% and 24.51%, respective4ly.  In the case of Lai-Han-Ko, the support rates are Lai 27.48%, Han 23.47% and Ko 27.38%.  The polls collected a combined total of 16,051 valid samples through cellphone and house phone interviews, accounting for 7,995 and 8,056 samples, respectively.  Each pollster was required to collect a minimum of 3000 sample (1500 minimum for both cellphone and house phone interviews).  This is the first time that a huge sample was collected through interview of cellphone and house phone in Taiwan.  The DPP's presidential primary generated lots of attention because President Tsai was challenged by her trusted right-hand man, former Premier Lai.   After announcement, Lai and Tsai chatted briefly.  Later President Tsai held a news conference that she would meet Lai in the coming days to discuss the party’s election strategy.   Tsai said “By having an open competition, we can have progress.  I want to thank Lai for his criticism, so that I can reflect on where my blind spots and problems are”.