Ma garnered more than 7.6 million votes, or 58.45 percent, defeating DPP rival candidate Frank Hsieh, who won more than 5.4 million votes, or 41.55 percent.

“It feels good to win the election, but it also means bigger responsibility,” said Ma as he celebrated his victory with jubilant party officials and supporters gathered at his campaign headquarters in Taipei.

Fireworks lit up the sky over the headquarters, as supporters put up victory signs.

Ma said voters had used their ballots to demonstrate their will against corruption, and their desire for stability.

“This election result is not a personal result, nor a victory for the KMT, it is a victory for all Taiwanese people,” Ma said.

“Your voices are heard. People have the right to demand a better life. Only change can bring hope, only change can provide opportunities.”

A dejected Hsieh conceded defeat, and apologized to supporters.

He said he will honor his election promise of retiring from politics.

Ma, along with his running mate Vincent Siew, will be inaugurated on May 20, succeeding President Chen Shui-bian, who’s eight-year rule has been dogged by controversy, corruption allegations, and tensions across the Taiwan Strait.

Chen and Vice President Annette Lu congratulated Ma and Siew, saying the government will do all it can to maintain political stability and assist the winners in taking over from them smoothly.

Ma’s vote share is the highest among all candidates, including former President Lee Teng-hui, in the history of Taiwan’s popular presidential elections.

Lee set a record by winning 54 percent of votes in 1996, the first-ever popular presidential vote in Taiwan.

Ma’s 17-percentage comfortable lead over Hsieh was roughly the same as the gap between the parties’ vote shares in the January legislative elections.

Observers said the legislative elections had served as a clear indicator of voters’ disappointment with the DPP’s poor performance over the past eight year years, and of their preference for the presidential poll.

But the pre-election estimations by both parties showed that Ma would only win by as much as 10 percentage points, according to media reports.

Voting went through peacefully yesterday, with only a few reports of voters ripping up ballot papers.

Following their victory, Siew told supporters that the change of ruling party for the second time — after the first time when the DPP ended the KMT’s five-decade rule in 2000 — marks a victory for all of Taiwan’s people.

He said he will do his best to assist Ma to improve Taiwan’s economy.

KMT Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung said he hoped the confrontations created between the opposing camps during the election could now end.

Wu, greeting James Soong, chairman of the People First Party who arrived at the KMT campaign headquarters to congratulate Ma, said his party would seek to open merger talks with the ally as soon as possible.

Soong said he hopes the KMT will not let the nation down.

In response to Ma’s victory, Huang Kun-huei, chairman of the once strongly pro-independence Taiwan Solidarity Union, said his party respects the people’s choice.

He urged that the KMT, set to control both the administration and the parliament, respect the minority.

Chen became president in 2000 by defeating KMT candidate Lien Chan and independent contender James Soong.

Although Chen failed to win a majority of votes, the split of the same voter base by Lien and Soong — who broke ranks with the KMT to mount the independent campaign — gifted Chen with the victory.

In 2004 Lien mounted a comeback bid with Soong as his running mate.

But the president was re-elected by a razor-thin margin after he and Lu were injured in an election-eve shooting, which is believed to have won them sympathy votes.

Ma won on an anti-corruption and economy-boosting platform. He has promised to expand high-tech industrial ties between Taiwan and China.

Soochow University professor Liu Bih-rong, who specializes in cross-strait relations, was cited by the AFP as commenting that the landslide was unexpected.

“The election result shows Taiwan has grown into a more mature democracy,” he said, predicting relations with China would improve at a faster pace.

“It shows that the Taiwanese people have given the KMT the mandate to open direct links and push for the one common market with China.”

Better cross-strait ties was what businessman Wang Wen-ho was looking for when he cast his ballot for Ma at a Taipei high school, according to AP.

“The DPP has failed to cope with China’s growth in eight years,” he was cited by AP as saying. “We need to engage the mainland to improve the economy.”

Hsieh, despite embracing his party’s pro-independence cause, has also promised to accelerate cross-strait ties, but the scope in his promise was narrower than that of Ma’s.

Hsieh also warned voters of the danger of one-party dominance if Ma was elected.

Taipei voter Chen Wei-ting, a 32-year-old banker, agreed with Hsieh, AP said. “I’m worried that if one party had the Legislature and presidency, there could be a lot of trouble.”

But the man’s wife, Chen Chia-chia, a 25-year-old businesswoman, said she supported Ma. “The KMT did a good job when they were in power before, so I think everything will be OK,” she was cited as saying.