Taiwan’s ruling party, the Kuomintang (KMT), has suffered a major defeat in Saturday’s elections.
In the nation’s largest-ever local elections, the KMT took only one out of the six major city mayor positions. Only New Taipei’s incumbent mayor, Eric Chu, narrowly edged out his opponent. The KMT lost even its longtime strongholds Taipei and Taichung.
The opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) had a strong showing, winning four of the biggest cities: Taoyuan, Taichung, Tainan, and Kaohsiung.
Overall, of Taiwan’s 22 city and county chief positions, the DPP picked up 13 seats, and the KMT six, while three seats went to independent candidates.