Taiwan's opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has won magistrate seats in the southern counties of Chiayi and Pingtung in Saturday's local elections. DPP candidates Chang hwa-kuan and Tsao Chi-hung announced their victories in Chiayi and Pingtung, respectively, just three hours after the polls closed at 5 p.m. The two counties have been traditionally pro-DPP, and the DPP candidates' victories in these two counties did not come as a surprise. The two candidates won by a big margin, with Chang garnering around 50,000 more votes than her ruling party Kuomintang (KMT) rival Wong Chung-chun. Tsao meanwhile enjoyed a clear lead, with about 90,000 more votes than KMT candidate Chou Dian-lun. More than 7 million eligible voters in Taiwan went to the polls to elect county magistrates, city mayors, county and city councillors and township chiefs in 17 of Taiwan's 25 counties and cities Saturday. The local-level elections are held once every four years. 