TAIPEI -- Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen resigned as chair of her ruling party after the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) retook the mayorship of its traditional stronghold of Taipei and won a string of victories in local elections held across the island on Saturday.

She will remain as president until her second term expires in early 2014. It has been a poor election night for her party, who were facing a difficult electoral cycle as their term-limited incumbents stepped down. Premier Su Tseng-chang also offered to resign but was retained by Tsai.