TAIPEI, March 22 (Xinhua) -- Ma Ying-jeou, the candidate representing Taiwan's Kuomintang (KMT), won the island's leadership election on Saturday, according to Taiwan media reports.

      Ma, former KMT party chairman, and Vincent Siew, got 7.6587 million ballots, or 58.45 percent of the votes, whereas Frank Hsieh of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and his running mate Su Tseng-chang got 5.4452 million ballots, or 41.55 percent of the votes.

      Taiwan residents began voting in the leadership election at 8 a.m., voting ended at 4 p.m.. Results are expected at 9.30 p.m. About 17.3 million people voted at 14,401 polling stations, said the Taiwan authority.

      Taiwan residents also voted on Saturday in two "referendums" on launching a bid to join the United Nations, one put forward by the DPP and one by the KMT. Both were rejected by Taiwan residents.

      In January, the KMT won 81 of the 113 seats in Taiwan's "legislature" elections, scoring a landslide victory over the DPP, which got 27 seats.