HONOLULU — Voters in Taiwan went to the polls in 17 counties and cities recently to elect mayors and magistrates. The ruling Kuomintang (KMT) party won 12 of the 17 seats and enjoyed an overwhelming victory in elections of county and city councilors and township chiefs. The opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) won only four of the leadership posts (with the remaining one going to a KMT renegade).

As the dust settled, the DPP was proclaiming its resounding victory — "this was a no-confidence vote in Ma," proclaimed DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen, while declaring that the DPP "has emerged from the bottom" — and Taiwan President and KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou was apologizing for the "relatively unsatisfactory results" and promising to do better. Huh?

True, the four DPP victories represent an increase of one over their previous standing and the percentage of votes earned by the DPP increased over what they enjoyed four years ago (when a larger portion of districts were up for grabs), but considering the severe blow the KMT struck against the DPP in the 2007 Legislative Yuan elections (which gave the KMT about three-quarters of the parliamentary seats) and Ma's landslide victory in the 2008 presidential elections, one would have anticipated some rebound was only natural. The Democrats in the U.S. could only pray for similar results in the 2010 off-year Congressional elections.