Taiwan

KMT wins 3 out of 5 city polls

(China Daily)
Updated: 2010-11-28 08:28

TAIPEI - Taiwan's ruling Kuomintang (KMT) won three out of five mayoral races Saturday, giving new mandate to Taiwan leader Ma Ying-jeou's policy of improving relations with the mainland.

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But the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) managed to win about 50 percent of votes, signaling strong opposition to Ma's expected re-election bid in 2012.

Results indicated the KMT had convincing leads in Taipei, the new Taipei suburban constituency of Xinbei and the central city of Taichung.

DPP candidates were unbeatable in the southern heartland cities of Kaohsiung and Tainan.

The election is a mid-term test for Ma Ying-jeou and will have an impact on the 2012 "presidential election", said Li Jiaquan, a senior researcher at the Institute of Taiwan Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. "The three-to-two win by the KMT will ensure the continuity of the island's cross-Straits policy."

Results also showed that the DPP's overall share of mayoral votes stood at 49.9 percent, against 44.2 for the KMT and 5.9 percent for independents.

DPP party chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen lost in Xinbei by about five percentage points while her main rival within the DPP, party veteran Su Tseng-chang, lost the Taipei contest by an unexpectedly high 12 percentage points to incumbent Hau Lung-bin.

China Daily, AP and Reuters