Taiwan leader decides to resign as party chairman after election defeat

Updated: 2014-12-02 17:16

(chinadaily.com.cn/Xinhua)

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Taiwan leader Ma Ying-jeou will announce his resignation as chairman of the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) Party Wednesday after the KMT suffered a defeat in local elections held on Saturday, Taiwan's Central News Agency reported Tuesday.

The agency reported Ma as saying at a meeting of senior KMT officials Tuesday afternoon that he will resign as party leader. He is expected to formally announce the resignation at a meeting of the central standing committee of the KMT.

In an act of solidarity for the incumbent party's defeat in the local Taiwan election, all officials from the Taiwan administrative authority resigned on Monday.

The officials, led by chief administrator Jiang Yi-huah who announced his resignation Saturday evening, said they wanted to take responsibility for their party's performance at the polls.

The KMT Party won six county and city chief seats in Taiwan's biggest-ever local elections, while the opposition Democratic Progressive Party landed 13 seats, according to the island's electoral authorities.

The other 3 seats of the island's 22 county and city chiefs were picked up by independent candidates.

The polls to select 11,130 holders of nine types of public office ranging from municipal mayors to county chiefs, city councilors, village leaders, known as "nine-in-one elections," were held from 8 am to 4 pm Saturday.

The elections are the biggest in history in terms of candidates and open positions. This is the first time Taiwan residents elected officials for 11,130 local government and legislative positions simultaneously.

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