Political earthquake hits Taiwan, forcing KMT leaders to quit
Taipei (AsiaNews) - Taiwan's entire cabinet has followed Prime Minister Jiang Yi-Huah and tendered their resignation, assuming responsibility for the party's electoral debacle in Saturday's municipal elections.
All 81 cabinet members will now serve in caretaker roles until a new prime minister is appointed to choose their replacements.
Taiwan's President Ma Ying-jeou, who also heads the Kuomintang (KMT or Nationalist Party), is also set to resign tomorrow as party president.
Last weekend, the Kuomintang suffered its worst political defeat since 1949, the year when China's nationalists fled the mainland after it was seized by Mao's and his forces.
Although the island's dominant political force since then, the KMT has already lost two consecutive presidential elections to the Democratic Progressive Party. The latter, which is opposed to cross-strait rapprochement, won almost 70 per cent of the vote.
According to analysts, the KMT's defeat is a rebuke to an administration seen as too cosy with mainland China and big business. Now the focus shifts to Ma's successor at the helm of the party after the president's resignation.
Debate is already raging among the KMT members over who should be the party's next leader.
While some KMT legislators favour New Taipei City mayor Eric Chu Li-luan, one of seven KMT vice-chairmen, others back legislature speaker Wang Jin-pyng and Ma ally Vice-President Wu.
Chu, who was the only KMT mayor to be re-elected, asked voters to give the KMT a chance, saying the party was "willing to re-examine and reform itself to meet the expectations of the public".
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07/12/2009
