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TAIPEI (Reuters) – Taiwan began voting on Saturday in the local elections, a key test of support for the pro-independence ruling party ahead of the presidential elections in just over a year, and will also hold a referendum on homosexual marriage.
The results will be closely followed in China, which claims an autonomous and proudly democratic Taiwan, and has increased pressure on President Tsai Ing-wen and her administration since taking office in 2016.
In the run-up to the elections, Tsai and his government repeatedly stated that China was trying to influence the election results with its "political bullying" and "false information," accusations denied by Beijing.
"It's a fight for democracy," Tsai said at a rally in northeastern Taiwan on Friday.
"Our vote is a demonstration to the world that false information and outside forces will not win over Taiwanese democracy and the dignity of Taiwanese."
More than 11,000 seats are to be won in municipalities, counties, townships and villages, with the southern city of Kaohsiung being a key battleground for the ruling Progressive Democratic Party (DPP), which has held the city since two decades.
Candidates moved across the island to lobby and vote, and organized noisy and colorful rallies that have become the hallmark of Taiwan's vibrant democracy, unlike China, where the Communist Party does not tolerate no dissent.
Tensions across the Taiwan Strait increased with China, which organized military exercises around the island and delighted the reduced number of diplomatic allies in Taiwan.
Tsai's internal reform initiatives, from the island's labor law pension plan, have also been the subject of close scrutiny by voters.
Confidence in the government has faded in recent months after reforms overthrew the opposition and some supporters, who claimed that Mr. Tsai was kept out of the promises deficit reduction and pollution.
Tsai's challenge will be a series of public votes Saturday on the question of whether to legalize same-sex marriage, an issue that has deeply divided Taiwan.
Tsai made little progress despite his campaign on a promise of marriage equality before the 2016 elections.
In its first decision in Asia, the Constitutional Court of Taiwan declared last May that same-sex couples had the right to marry legally, and set a two-year deadline for legalization.
Voters will also be asked if the island is scheduled to join the Tokyo Olympics in 2020 as Taiwan, rather than "Chinese Taipei" – a name agreed upon under a compromise signed in 1981.
A vote to meet under a Taiwanese banner would further enthuse Beijing, which has never given up the use of force to ensure eventual unification.
(Report by Ben Blanchard and Yimou Lee, edited by Nick Macfie)
