Following Tsai Ing-wen's stunning victory in the presidential election campaign, her opponents in the rival Kuomintang (KMT) party reacted by offering their resignations.

KMT Chairman Wu Den-yih announced that he would step down from his post, according to Focus Taiwan CNA English News, along with other KMT senior officials.

A landslide defeat for the KMT

Before the election, Wu had targeted not only the presidency with KMT candidate Han Kuo-yu, but also more than half of the legislature's 113 seats.

But his party was handed a stunning defeat by the incumbent Tsai Ing-wen of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

According to Bloomberg, Tsai secured the most number of votes in Taiwan's electoral history, a record 8.17 million votes.

Han only received around 5.5 million votes, nearly 20 percentage points behind Tsai.

Meanwhile, KMT lost seven seats in the legislature while the DPP picked up three, giving them a total of 61, enough for a majority.

Leadership resignations

Wu previously served as Vice-President with former Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou, and was elected party chairman in 2017.

In a press conference on Jan. 11, CNA English reported that he expressed his regrets and said that the party needed to improved.

He also said that he hoped Tsai could continue to create an environment where Taiwanese people could live and work in peace.

Along with Wu, all "top-ranking" KMT officials, including their secretary-general and vice chairmen, will submit their resignations during the party's Central Standing Committee, scheduled for next week.

KMT Vice-Chairman Hau Lungbin wrote in a Facebook post on Jan. 11 that he had resigned, and said that his party had to "destroy and rebuild" if it wanted to stand up again "from the ruins".

What's next for Han?

However, Han did not say that he would resign.

Han is currently the mayor of Kaohsiung, a city in Taiwan's south. But Kaohsiung voted overwhelmingly for Tsai in the presidential race, 62.2 to 34.6 per cent, according to the South China Morning Post (SCMP).

Han said:

"Since the people of the Republic of China (ROC) have made their decision, as a candidate I can only accept the result. I can only say that I have not worked hard enough and have let you all down."

Han is also facing a "recall campaign", with Kaohsiung voters claiming that he "abandoned" his responsibilities to run for president.

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Top image from Daniel Ho.