Taiwan’s cabinet has resigned en masse after the ruling party suffered a massive defeat at the island’s biggest ever local elections.

The ruling Kuomintang (KMT) had its power slashed across Taiwan at the polls on Saturday, with Premier Jiang Yi-huah stepping down hours after the disastrous result – seen as a key barometer ahead of the 2016 presidential race.

Taiwan’s 81-strong cabinet formally stepped down on Monday morning.

The members of the cabinet will continue to serve as caretakers until a new team is selected by the next premier, who is likely to be chosen by the president, Ma Ying-jeou, in the next few days.

“As the cabinet is now entering into the caretaking period, I want to implore you to continue carrying out your roles until the new cabinet is formed … Hopefully the period won’t last too long,” Jiang said in a statement.

Although he defended the performance of his team, Jiang admitted that “voters were not happy”.

The Beijing-friendly KMT has been struggling with growing public concerns over China’s increased influence, with relations improvign since Ma took over in 2008.

A slowing economy and a string of food scandals has also angered voters.

The KMT lost five of Taiwan’s six large municipalities – the most hotly contested seats – in its worst ever polls performance.

Its main rival, the Democratic Progressive party (DPP), took 47.5% of the votes cast across the country, with the KMT on 40.7%.

There were 11,130 seats at all levels of local government up for grabs with 18 million eligible voters. Turnout was 67.5%.

Since Ma came to power, frosty ties between Beijing and Taipei have warmed, leading to a tourist boom of Chinese visitors to Taiwan as well as expanded trade links.

But there is public anxiety at the closer relationship. A proposed services trade pact with the mainland sparked mass student-led protests and a three-week occupation of Taiwan’s parliament earlier this year.

China has urged Taiwan to “push forward” with cross-strait relations in the wake of the vote.

An editorial in the state-run Global Times on Monday blamed the KMT’s loss on the party’s “incompetence” in managing Taiwan’s economy and society, but said the defeat “doesn’t mean the triumph of Taiwan independence forces”.

“So far, the DPP has been toeing the line without challenging cross-straits relations,” it added.