Taiwan chief administrator resigns after party's defeat

Taiwan chief administrator announced his resignation after the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) Party suffered a defeat in local elections held Saturday.

Jiang Yi-huah announced his decision at a press conference in the evening and it was approved by Taiwan leader Ma Ying-jeou, Xinhua reported.

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.

Taking responsibility for the voting's results, Jiang said the election's results reflected public discontent with the government's administration and hoped Ma could appoint a new chief administrator as soon as possible to face up to challenges.

Ma, also chairman of the KMT Party, said he has accepted the resignation of the party's Secretary-General Tseng Yung-chuan at a separate press conference.

"The KMT has suffered a huge defeat in the elections and I must apologise to all the Party members and supporters as well," Ma said, adding he will soon propose a reform plan to respond to the people's appeal.

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

The polls to select 11,130 holders for nine types of public offices ranging from municipal mayors to county chiefs, city councillors, village leaders, known as "nine-in-one elections," were held from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday.

The elections are the biggest in history in terms of candidates and open positions. It was the first occasion when Taiwan residents elected officials for 11,130 local government and legislative positions simultaneously.