The results of Taiwan's municipal elections showed that the ruling party's reforms have borne fruit, President Ma Ying-jeou said Sunday. Mayoral candidates of the Kuomintang (KMT) fended off their challengers in Taipei, Xinbei(currently Taipei County) and greater Taichung, while the opposition Democratic Progressive Party retained its stronghold in southern Taiwan with overwhelming wins in greater Tainan and Kaohsiung cities. DPP candidates won a total of 3,772,373 votes, 49.87 percent of the ballots cast in Saturday's mayoral elections. It represents an advantage of more than 400,000 votes over the KMT with 44.54 percent. Ma said that cross-strait relations were not among the election issues this time, and the results prove that the government's promotion of warmer ties with China is acceptable to the majority of the people. 'The government will not change its established cross-trait policy or alter its progress,' he said. However, Ma, who is also chairman of the KMT, said he has asked for a thorough review to find out why the party fell behind in vote numbers. Speaking to reporters during a visit to the National Palace Museum in Taipei, he produced a 16-character maxim, calling on the people 'not to feel proud or discouraged but to unite whole-heartedly'. The president also emphasized the need 'to persist in carrying out reforms and to solidify democracy'. 'Taiwan's democracy cannot be allowed to regress -- it should move forward steadily, no matter what lies ahead,' he said. He said that the election should be assessed on the basis of two indices -- the number of seats and the total vote count. On the KMT's showing in the total vote count, Ma said that the party fell behind because the independent candidate in one of the constituencies had the same platforms as the KMT candidate, which lured some of the KMT supporters. The KMT will 'examine' the matter, said the president. He was referring to the greater Kaohsiung election, in which Kaohsiung County Magistrate Yang Chiu-hsing defected from the DPP and ran as an independent, creating a three-way race in the constituency. In the end, incumbent Mayor of Kaohsiung City Chen Chu won the election with 821,089 votes, or 52.8 percent. Yang came second with 414,950 votes, or 26.68 percent, while Huang Chao-shun, the KMT candidate, finished last with 319,171 votes, or 20.52 percent. Asked to comment on an election-eve shooting incident, the president said that, immediately after it happened, his party decided that there should be no manipulation of the incident for electoral gains. Most party members complied, he said. Therefore, he said, any disruption caused by the shooting was limited. Conducting an election free of interference is the essence of democracy, Ma added. A gunman shot former Vice President Lien Chan's son in the face at a KMT candidate's campaign rally on Friday. Lien Sheng-wen, also known as Sean Lien, is recovering after undergoing a four-hour emergency operation. The senior Lien is currently the KMT honorary chairman. A bystander at the rally was killed in the shooting. The assailant was arrested on the scene although his motives were yet unclear. On whether the shooting helped galvanize support for the KMT, Ma said that 'it would be difficult to make an assessment.' (By Garfie Li and Lilian Wu) 