TAIPEI: Taiwan's pro-independence ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) suffered a major setback in mid-term local elections on Saturday (Nov 24), losing two of the island's most important posts in mayoral elections.

It lost its traditional stronghold in Kaohsiung city for the first time in 20 years, and was also defeated in the second-largest city of Taichung.



The results of the polls, being held a little more than a year ahead of Taiwan's next presidential elections, is a significant blow to President Tsai Ing-wen.

She announced her resignation as chair of DPP following the string of defeats.

Votes are still being counted in Taiwan's capital Taipei, where the incumbent mayor Ko Wen-je, an independent, is in a close race with the Kuomintang's Ting Shou-chung, and the DPP is running a distant third.





Tsai and DPP have faced mounting backlash over domestic reforms and concerns about deteriorating ties with China, which still sees self-ruling Taiwan as part of its territory to be reunified.

The main opposition Kuomintang party (KMT), which oversaw an unprecedented thaw with Beijing before Tsai took office in 2016, has declared victory in 15 of 22 city and county seats, up from just six going into the election.

The DPP, which went into the election with 13 seats, has declared victory in only six so far. It held on in two of its other strongholds - Tainan in the island's south and Taoyuan in the north.



Lu Shiow-yen (centre) from the main opposition Kuomintang (KMT) party speaks after her victory in the Taichung mayor race following local elections in Taipei on November 24, 2018. (Photo: AFP)

Beijing has intensified pressure on Taiwan under Tsai, upping military drills, poaching diplomatic allies and successfully convincing international businesses to list Taiwan as part of China on their websites.

The DPP is traditionally pro-independence and Tsai has refused to acknowledge Beijing's stance that Taiwan is part of "one China", unlike her KMT predecessor Ma Ying-jeou.

Ahead of the vote, Tsai and DPP officials repeatedly said they believed China has meddled in the lead-up to the elections through a "fake news" campaign, which Beijing has denied.

The KMT - which lost the leadership and its majority in parliament two years ago as the public feared it had moved too close to Beijing - framed the election as a vote of no confidence in Tsai, with promises to boost the economy and improve relations once more with China.

Some traditionally pro-DPP groups said before the election that they wanted to punish the party as their businesses had taken a hit from cross-strait tensions.

READ: Taiwan votes in test for pro-independence ruling party as China watches



GAY RIGHTS CLASH

10 referendums which were also on the ballot paper include pro- and anti-gay marriage votes.

Voters in Taiwan backed anti-gay marriage referendums, in what LGBT activists said was a major blow to the island's reputation as a rights trailblazer.

Activists fear it could turn back the clock on the island's reputation as a trailblazer for marriage equality.



"Pro-family" group the Coalition for the Happiness of our Next Generation said the win was a "victory of all people who treasure family values".



A landmark court decision legalising gay marriage is still to be implemented.



READ: Anti-gay marriage groups win Taiwan referendum battle

Voters faced lengthy queues as they dealt with complex ballots which also included a referendum on a bid to change the name under which Taiwan competes at international sports events that has already angered China.

College student Kwan Chin-shun, 18, voting in Taipei, said she supported equal marriage rights.

"There's nothing wrong with loving someone of the same sex," she told AFP.

Others said they sided with "pro-family" groups.

"The purpose of getting married is to have children and Taiwan's birthrate is already one of the world's lowest. Gay people can have relationships like heterosexual couples, but they don't have to get married," said a female voter who gave her name as Bai.



With all three conservative referendums passing the threshold of 25 percent of eligible voters, under referendum law the government must take steps to reflect the result.

Ahead of the vote, Amnesty International had urged the government not to "water down" same-sex marriage proposals in the face of a conservative win.

Tsai had framed the local elections as a way to "tell the world" that Taiwan would not bow to Beijing, calling called China's pressure "omnipresent" and has said Taiwan's democracy was faced with a crisis due to "outside forces".

Social media posts said to be "fake news" have included photos of discarded bananas and pineapples which were framed as proof the government did not care about farmers, as well as posts which suggested Taiwan had failed to get its citizens out of Japan after a typhoon - a senior Taiwan official in Osaka committed suicide after the reports.

Taiwan's Investigation Bureau also said it is probing Chinese influence on the elections through campaign funding of candidates.