Taiwan's Beijing-friendly ruling party was facing a rout today as voters went to the polls for the island's biggest ever local elections, a key test ahead of the 2016 presidential race.
Opinion polls suggest the Kuomintang (KMT) are heading for heavy losses as they struggle with growing fears over Chinese influence, a slowing economy and a string of food scandals.
The local vote is seen as a barometer for leadership elections due in early 2016, with China policy a key issue. Embattled President Ma Ying-jeou -- who came to power in 2008 on a Beijing-friendly platform -- must step down at the end of his second four-year term.
Voters lined up at polling stations from early morning and roads, train and bus stations were jammed as people returned to their local neighbourhoods to cast their ballots.
A record 11,130 seats at every level of local government are up for grabs, with 18 million people eligible to vote.
The KMT faces humiliation in key strongholds, including Taipei and the central municipality of Taichung.
"Many young people are concerned about job prospects and high housing prices so I hope to see change and new thinking in the government to make things better for us," graduate student Mark Hsu told AFP outside a polling station in the capital.
