Can Erözden
16 January 2016•Update: 18 January 2016
By Tevfik Durul
TAIPEI, Taiwan
Provisional results show Taiwanese opposition Democratic Progressive Party's candidate has won the presidential election.
Unofficial results reported by the country's Central News Agency (CNA) on Saturday suggested DPP Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen would claim victory with an estimated 58 percent, in doing so becoming the territory's first female leader.
The presidential candidate for the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) party has conceded defeat and announced his resignation as KMT chairman.
"I am sorry to disappoint you. We failed. We did not work well enough," state media quoted KMT candidate Eric Chu as saying after the results became apparent.
Outgoing Premier Mao Chi-kuo also tendered his resignation Saturday evening.
CNA reported Mao as saying that his resignation was motivated by the fact that Taiwan is facing an international economic crisis, and could not afford to wait for the inauguration of the new president May 20 before tackling such issues.
Tsai is expected to give a victory speech to her supporters tonight.
