Nationalist Party wins Taiwan election

January 12, 2008 The Chinese Nationalist Party, also known as Kuomintang (KMT, traditional Chinese:中國國民黨), has won today's elections in Taiwan against President Chen Shui-bian's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). The DPP had previously ended half a century of Kuomintang rule in 2000 when President Chen was elected and won more seats than any other party in the 2001 election.

The election can only be described as a landslide win for the KMT, winning more than 70% of all the seats in the 113 seats parliament while the DPP only managed to gain just under 25%. Reuters is reporting 86 seats for the KMT while AFP is reporting 82 seats.

"I am willing to shoulder all of the responsibility," President Chen was quoted as saying at a press conference. He resigned as the chairman of the Democratic Progressive Party immediately.

The Kuomintang is part of the Pan-Blue coalition along with the People First Party and Chinese New Party. As a coalition they stand for reunification with China, which the Democratic Progressive Party opposes. The Democratic Progressive Party is a member of the Pan green coalition which stands for Taiwanese independence from the People's Republic of China. Taiwan calls itself the Republic of China; however, it is only recognized by few states and is officially seen as part of the People's Republic of China by most, though it is generally recognized as a de facto independent nation.