Tsai Ing-wen leads in Taiwan's presidential election with over 7 million votes

More than 19.3 million Taiwanese have cast their votes for their next president and lawmakers, and commentators expect turnout rate to be the highest ever.

Incumbent president Tsai Ing-wen, who is seeking a second term, is currently heading the poll with over 7 million votes, taking up 57.3 per cent of the turnout.

The voting today ended at 4pm, over 10 thousands voting stations have been turned to ballots-counting centers.

Tsai of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is leading ahead of her major competitor Han Kuo-yu of the Kuomingtang party, which favors much warmer ties with China, with over 2.5 million votes.

According to the latest figures from Taiwanese broadcast channel EBC News at 8.00 pm, Tsai is heading the poll with over 7,638,416 votes, while Han has 5,123,044 votes and another candidate James Soong Chu-yu of the People First Party has 562,440 votes.

Supporters of the DPP waved flags and chanted at the campaign center in Taichung as Tsai leads the election.

Meanwhile, several hundreds of volunteers and supporters gathered outside the KMT headquarter. But the atmosphere was quiet as Han's votes were lagging behind.

Tsai will deliver a speech at her campaign headquarter in Taichung after an international press conference at 8.30pm. DPP's chairman Cho Jung-tai will hold a press conference at 9.30pm.

The results is expected to be released at 10pm. tonight.

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