Taiwan's ruing Kuomintang (KMT) won an overwhelming victory in elections of county and city councilors as well as township chiefs Saturday. The ruling party secured 289 of the 592 seats up for grabs in the elections of councilors in 17 of the 25 counties and cities in the country. The opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), gained control of 128 townships, followed by the minor Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) which won three seats, and the People First Party (PFP) and the Labor Party, which won one seat each. The remaining 170 seats went to independents. The ratios of votes won in the councilor elections were: the KMT, 43.94 percent; the DPP, 24.41 percent; the TSU, 0.62 percent; the PFP, 0.13 percent, while the independents won 30.76 percent of the votes cast. Meanwhile, the KMT kept its dominance in township administrator offices by wining 121 seats out of the 211 seats contested, while the DPP took control of 34 townships. The remaining 56 township offices were captured by independents. The ratios of votes won by the KMT in the township elections stood at 48.81 percent; for the DPP, 20.04 percent; and independents, 30.87 percent. The ruling party managed to win 12 seats in the county and city magistrate and mayors elections, but lost the magistrate offices in Ilan in northeastern Taiwan to the DPP and Hualien in eastern Taiwan to an independent. Elections for eight other Taiwan counties and cities -- the city and county of Taipei, the city and county of Taichung, the city and county of Tainan, and the city and county of Kaohsiung -- will be held in late 2010. Also on Saturday, KMT candidate Ma Wen-chun won the legislative by-election in Nantou County in central Taiwan. The post was vacated when Premier Wu Den-yih was promoted to be premier in September. 