Lai, along with his running mate Hsiao Bi-khim – Taiwan’s former representative to the United States – won a total of more than 5.5 million votes,
France 24 reports.
Taiwan’s electoral system is based on first-past-the-post voting, awarding the victory to the presidential-VP pairing with the highest percentage of votes.
Turnout on the self-ruled island was put at more than 70 percent with some 19.5 million Taiwanese eligible to vote.
A favourite to succeed incumbent President Tsai Ing-wen, who is due to step down at the end of her second consecutive term in May, Lai’s win was in line with previous forecasts.
Lai ran against the main opposition party’s – the Kuomintang – candidate Hou Yu-ih , who came in a close second with 33.5 percent of the vote and the Taiwan People’s Party’s Ko Wen-Je who trailed both candidates with only 26.5 percent.
Speaking as last results trickled in, Lai told a press conference that the election was a victory for Taiwan’s democracy.
“We are telling the international community that between democracy and authoritarianism, we will stand on the side of democracy,” he said.
In an election framed as a choice between “peace and war” by China, which deems the DPP’s governance as “incompatible” with cross-strait peace, Lai’s victory comes at a crucial moment amid rising tensions between Taipei and Beijing.
Claiming the island as part of its territory, Beijing responded to the election results by saying that “reunification” with Taiwan is still "inevitable".
The vote "will not impede the inevitable trend of China's reunification", Beijing's Taiwan Affairs Office spokesperson Chen Binhua said in a statement carried by state news agency Xinhua.
President Joe Biden reiterated that the US is "not supporting" Taiwan's independence, after Taiwanese voters rebuffed China and gave the ruling party a third presidential term.
