DHAKA: Taiwan’s premier Jiang Yi-huah resigned on Saturday after the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) party suffered a landslide defeat at the island’s biggest-ever local elections.

Jiang announced that he had stepped down at a hastily called brief press conference, saying that he took ‘political responsibility’ for the party’s heavy losses – unofficial results showed the KMT had lost in five out of Taiwan’s six municipalities.

‘The public has not been satisfied with the government’s performance, and that was reflected in the results of the vote. So I have decided to assume political responsibility and tendered my resignation, which has been approved by President Ma,’ he said.

Taiwan’s President Ma Ying-jeou said on Saturday that the KMT had suffered a serious setback. The comments came just hours after polls closed in a vote in which the KMT lost power in key cities.

Ma has no plans to resign as KMT chairman, party spokesman Charles Chen said late on Saturday.

The KMT lost its two strongholds of Taipei, the capital, and Taichung, in central Taiwan, in the election for mayors and councillors at the local level islandwide.

Independent candidate Ko Wen-je took the KMT’s traditional stronghold of Taipei, with his rival Sean Lien tearfully declaring defeat ahead of the official result.

‘I am very sorry that I didn’t meet everybody’s expectations. This is my personal responsibility and it’s because I didn’t work hard enough...’ Lien told his supporters, bowing deeply, reports The Straits Times.

Incumbent KMT mayor Jason Hu in the party’s other key stronghold of Taichung also conceded a loss to the DPP’s Lin Chia-lung. ‘I thank many young people who came out to vote, you took part in history and you created history,’ Lin said.

The opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) declared a surprise victory in Taoyuan and retained its seats in Tainan and Kaohsiung – party spokesman Huang Di-ying told the media that the party’s performance was ‘beyond our expectations’.

A record 11,130 seats at every level of local government are up for grabs, with 18 million people eligible to vote.

Turnout figures have not yet been confirmed but were expected to be 65 percent to 75 percent.

BDST: 2019 HRS, NOV 29, 2014