Many speculate island’s leader may also resign after poor poll performance

Dozens of Taiwan's administrators resigned en masse on Monday in an act of solidarity for the incumbent Kuomintang (KMT), after their defeat in local elections held on Saturday, as the public speculated as to whether the current Taiwan leader Ma Ying-jeou will resign.

A total of 81 officials, led by chief administrator Jiang Yi-huah, said they wanted to take responsibility for their party's poor performance at the polls.

Speaking at a meeting Monday, Jiang urged all administrators to remain in their posts until replacements were found. "In addition to respecting the opinions expressed by the people through their votes, we should closely examine why we could not win support from more voters," Jiang said.

The KMT lost local votes across Taiwan Saturday, with Jiang quitting hours after the disastrous result - seen as a key barometer ahead of the 2016 regional leadership election.

The KMT's main rival, the Democratic Progressive Party, took 47.5 percent of the votes cast on the island, with the KMT winning only 40.7 percent.

There were 11,130 seats at all levels of local government up for grabs with 67.5 percent of the region's 18 million eligible voters turning out to vote.

According to the region's regulations, Taiwan leader Ma Ying-jeou will soon nominate a new chief administrator and reshuffle the "cabinet."

Wu Den-yih also resigned from his post as KMT vice chairman on Monday to show that he took responsibility for the party's trouncing, reported the Taipei-based Central News Agency.

According to KMT spokesperson Chen Yi-hsin, Ma would make a "major announcement" at a meeting of the party's central standing committee on Wednesday, which many believe may pertain to his speculated resignation.

Chiu Yi, a former KMT legislator, told the Global Times that he thought the only way that the KMT will be able to win the region's leadership election in 2016 is for Ma to resign as party chairman. Chiu said he saw Ma as being the main reason for the Party's landslide defeat.

Ma and his administration have been criticized over the island's slowing economy and a string of food scandals. Some have also disapproved of Ma's Beijing-friendly policies.

"There is a good chance that Ma will resign even though it is against his will and the recently revised party constitution, which stipulated that the leader of Taiwan should also be the party chairman," Wang Jianmin, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times, adding that Chu Li-luan, the new mayor of New Taipei City, might succeed Ma as the next KMT chairman, but that "it will not help the KMT adopt a new look."

Agencies contributed to this story