Taipei, Dec. 3 (CNA) President Ma Ying-jeou announced his resignation as chairman of the Kuomintang (KMT) at a KMT Central Standing Committee meeting on Wednesday in response to the party's massive defeat in local elections on Nov. 29.

He also bowed deeply for 10 seconds to apologize for the debacle.

"The elections remind us that those in power should listen humbly," he said.

Noting that the KMT suffered an unprecedented setback in Saturday's polls, Ma said he wanted to apologize to all supporters and felt ashamed to have let them down.

"I must deeply examine myself honestly and shoulder the greatest responsibility for the election defeat," Ma said.

"The results of the election tell us our reforms were not made fast enough and have yet to meet the expectations of the people, which is why the KMT failed to win the support of most voters."



(By Kelven Huang, Claudia Liu and Lilian Wu)
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