The KMT finished with a total of 12 counties and cities compared to the DPP’s four in a contest widely seen as an assessment of ROC President Ma Ying-jeou’s performance since taking office in May 2008.
The DPP held Chiayi, Pingtung, and Yunlin counties in addition to their Yilan gain. The northeastern Taiwan county was a DPP stronghold for more than two decades until KMT incumbent Lu Kuo-hua won power four years ago.
Independent candidate Fu Kun-chi’s victory in eastern Taiwan’s Hualien is the first time for the county to be held by a non-KMT party member.
The DPP won 1,982,914 votes, or 45.32 percent, a substantial increase from its 41.95 percent of four years ago. The KMT received 2,094,518 ballots, or 47.87 percent, less than the 50.96 percent it won in the 2005 elections of 23 county magistrates and city mayors.
According to the Cabinet-level Central Election Commission, nearly 62 percent of 7.05 million eligible voters turned out for the county magistrate and city mayor elections.
President Ma said that the results were not ideal, but refused to view them as an electoral setback. “Irrespective of whether one looks at the results from the number of seats or the share of the vote, the outcome of the election for the KMT was not ideal.”
Ma said it was impossible to identify a single cause for the result, adding that a wide range of elements came into play. “Individual candidates and the political and economic environment were issues. But we should take heart in the fact that even with the poor economy and high unemployment, voters still gave us an opportunity to control 12 counties and cities. This makes us very grateful.”
DPP Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen said the results were a major confidence boost and a motivation for her party to improve in the coming days. Following a humiliating defeat in the March 2008 presidential elections, Tsai said estimated support for the DPP was at its highest ever.
“We are encouraged by the results, but are not necessarily content,” Tsai said. “There is still a long road ahead.”
Describing the outcome as a vote of no confidence in the Ma Ying-jeou administration, Tsai urged the KMT to consider the result and re-examine its policies and adjust them to match the expectations of the people. “If Ma continues to ignore the people, they will send him an even stronger message in the future.” (CYH-JSM)