Taiwan’s Cabinet is preparing to resign en masse on Monday following the ruling party’s devastating losses in local elections over the weekend. The resignations come soon after Premier Jiang Yi-huah’s announcement on Saturday night that he would step down to take responsibility for the KMT’s landslide defeat.
The KMT went into the elections holding 15 of the 22 city and county chief positions up for grabs, but it managed to win only six. The opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), on the other hand, went from holding six seats, to winning 13.
Three seats went to independents, including the Taipei City mayor position. In that race, political newcomer and physician Ko Wen-je beat the KMT’s Sean Lien, who is the son of a former vice president, by more than 16 percentage points. That ended the KMT’s 16-year hold on the capital city’s mayoral seat.
Of Taiwan’s six main municipalities, the KMT picked up just one: New Taipei City.
Cabinet spokesman Sun Lih-chyun said Sunday that the Cabinet would meet at 10am on Monday. He said a total of 81 officials are slated to step down. Sun said the Cabinet would await the appointment of a new premier before making any major policy decisions.
Sun said that starting on Monday, with all of the Cabinet ministers under review, they would not appear at the legislature. Vice ministers would take their place in fielding questions during deliberation.