Mainland policy not to blame

On Tuesday, the Kuomintang (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou announced to quit the party chairmanship in a gesture acknowledging responsibility for the unprecedented recent election defeat the KMT suffered.

In Taiwan's biggest-ever local elections held on Nov 29, the ruling Kuomintang Party was given a bloody nose by voters, as it won only six of the 22 county and city chief seats, and the opposition Democratic Progressive Party landed 13 of them. The "9-in-1 elections", in which 11,130 holders were selected for nine sorts of public offices, ranging from municipal mayors to village leaders, herald an emerging shift in politics on the island.

Many have attributed the KMT's defeat to the political incompetence displayed by its leader Ma Ying-jeou during his second tenure.