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Latest news on local elections in Taiwan (all local times):
9:55 p.m.
Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen has resigned as leader of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party to assume responsibility for a major defeat suffered by his party in local elections.
Tsai will remain president and his resignation will have no direct effect on the government's affairs. At a brief press conference held Saturday at the PDP's headquarters after the elections, Ms. Tsai also said that she had refused the resignation of Prime Minister William Lai, saying that she wished that she would not go out. he continues his program of reforms.
Tsai said, "Today, democracy has taught us a lesson, we must study and accept the higher expectations of the people."
The elections for mayors and thousands of local posts are seen as a pivotal test for the two-year-old Tsai administration that Beijing has stopped attacking for its refusal to support its assertion that Taiwan belongs to China.
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8:10 p.m.
The ruling Democratic Progressive Party in Taiwan suffered a major defeat in local elections, considered a referendum on the island president under increasing pressure from China.
Saturday's elections for mayors and thousands of local posts are an essential test for the administration of two-year-old President Tsai Ing-wen, whom Beijing has continued to criticize for refusing to support his claim that Taiwan is part of China.
Tsai's DPP lost the Nationalist Party's mayor's office in the southern port city of Kaohsiung, where he had been in power for 20 years. Nationalists ruled Taiwan for decades after its separation from mainland China in 1949, amidst the civil war.
The nationalists also beat the PDP in downtown Taichung, while Ko Wen-je, the independent mayor of the capital, Taipei, seemed on track for a second term.
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10:35
Taiwanese began voting in the mid-term local elections, considered a referendum on the administration of President Tsai Ing-wen, under increasing pressure from the powerful Chinese rival, the island .
The elections that will follow Tsai's overwhelming victory in 2016 will decide races for 22 mayors and county magistrates, as well as for thousands of local officials.
Two years ago, the opposition nationalists, who had been expelled from power, were hoping to return to their territory by bolstering their corporate image and on a more accommodating line towards Beijing.
Since being elected in 2016, Tsai has maintained Taiwan's de facto independence status while avoiding calls for the proclamation of a formal separation from the continent.
China has increased pressure on the island to claim its own territory by poaching its diplomatic partners, suppressing official contacts and organizing threatening military exercises.
