President resigns as party leader after election loss

Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen has resigned as head of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party following local election losses suffered by her party. Tsai offered her resignation on Saturday evening, a tradition after a major loss, in a short speech in which she also thanked supporters. She said she will shoulder the responsibility as she had hand-picked candidates in Saturday’s elections. Voters in Taiwan overwhelmingly chose the opposition Nationalist party in several major races across the self-ruled island. Chiang Wan-an, the Nationalist party’s mayoral candidate, won the closely watched seat in capital Taipei. Lingering concerns about threats from rival China, which claims Taiwan as its territory, took a backseat to more local issues.