Taiwan's main opposition Kuomintang (KMT) party won the island's leadership election by a landslide on Saturday, figures released by election authorities showed.

Ma Ying-jeou, former KMT chairman, and his running mate Vincent Siew, got 7.6587 million ballots, or 58.45 percent of the votes, while Frank Hsieh of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and his running mate Su Tseng-chang got 5.4452 million ballots, or 41.55 percent of the votes.

More than 76 per cent of the 17.3 million eligible voters cast their ballots at 14,401 polling stations islandwide, the authorities said.

Taiwan residents also rejected on Saturday two "referendums" to launch a bid to join the United Nations, one put forward by the DPP and one by the KMT.

Only 35.8 percent in Taiwan cast their ballots on Saturday for the "UN membership referendum" under the name "Taiwan", proposed by the DPP.

Li Weiyi, spokesman of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, said on Saturday that the result suggested that Taipei's secessionist push has gone against the will of the people.

"Chen Shui-bian's administration has put forth a referendum to join the United Nations under the name Taiwan, but that referendum has failed, which goes to show that the people are not in favor of those who advocate Taiwan independence," Li said.

"It's the hope of the people across the Straits to develop peaceful cross-Straits relations and therefore, all of us should work hard on it."

Su Chia-hung, a political expert from Kaohsiung, said the failure of the "referendum" proved that the people's will should never be overlooked.

It was the common aspiration of compatriots from across the Taiwan Straits to maintain peace and stability, he said.

Chen's "UN membership referendum" has met opposition and condemnation from both within the Taiwan island and the international community ever since it was proposed.

More than 100 countries and regions including the United States and Russia had previously voiced their opposition to the proposal and reiterated their adherence to the one-China policy.

China Daily-Xinhua

(China Daily 03/24/2008 page3)