Hsu Tien-tsai and Lin Tai-hua, candidates running for the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), breezed past their rivals nominated by President Ma Ying-jeou's Beijing-friendly Kuomintang party at Saturday's polls in Tainan and Kaohsiung, both strongholds of the DPP in the south.

DPP chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen, a possible presidential candidate, said the by-elections were a "key battle" ahead of the 2012 presidential polls.

"The victory has made us more confident in the coming elections," she said in a statement, adding that the outcome was a message from the people.

"The promises guaranteed by Ma during the previous election have not been honoured at all... foremost, the youths cannot see where their future will be under the Kuomintang government," she said.

Tsai said she would lead her party to regain power and seize the majority in parliament.

The DPP, led by Tsai, has now won nine out of 12 seats contested in parliamentary by-elections since 2008 when it lost to the Kuomintang in a humiliating defeat.

After Saturday's polls, the KMT remains the majority, with 73 out of the 111 seats. The DPP has 33 seats, with the remainder held by independents.

KMT secretary general Liao Liao-yi apologised to supporters for what he said was a worse-than-expected outcome.

Ma, who is likely to announce his bid to seek another four-year term later this year, has never managed to regain his record high popularity rating of 79 percent, reached two days after he was elected president.

Several recent surveys indicated that Ma's approval rates were still below the 50-percent level although the island's economy grew 10.82 percent in 2010, its fastest rate for 24 years, fuelled by rapid expansion in the island's main trading partner China.

Analysts say that the impressive economic growth has failed to bring substantial benefits to the public as the gap between the rich and poor keeps widening.

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