A tearful Chang Li-shan announced her decision to quit the year-end magisterial race in the hope that her withdrawal will facilitate internal party unity in the wake of the KMT's weekend defeat.

Chang Li-shan, who formerly served as a legislator for a three-year term, is from a family of politicians.

Her niece Chang Chia-chun is a legislator and her brother Chang Jung-wei served previously as Yunlin County magistrate and Yunlin County Council speaker. He was the top campaign strategist for the KMT legislative candidate Chang Gen-hui who lost Saturday to the opposition Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) nominee Liu Chien-kuo by a large margin.

"I decided to withdraw my electoral bid for magistrate to take responsibility for my brother's failure to help the KMT win the by-election," Chang Li-shan said.

The KMT's poor showing in the election has been widely attributed to divisions within the party's ranks.

The by-election was held after former KMT legislator Chang Sho-wen was stripped of his seat in June when the Taiwan High Court upheld charges against him of buying votes to win the seat in the January 2008 legislative election.

His father, Chang Hui-yuan, had his KMT membership revoked when he insisted on running for the vacant seat left by his son, even after the party had nominated Chang Gen-hui as its candidate.

The situation ruptured a 20-year friendship between Chang Hui-yuan and Chang Jung-wei, a development that Chang Li-shan said had saddened her.

"I have never seen my brother shed so many tears as he did over the broken friendship, " she said, adding that she then decided to give up her magisterial bid in the hope that the year-end election will proceed in a fair, rational and objective manner.

Chang Li-shan also expressed the hope that her withdrawal will help stop accusations that her family intends to "dominate the county's political scene and monopolize its resources."

Huang Feng-shih, a former legislator and close friend of Chang Jung-wei, said Chang Li-shan's withdrawal is a significant decision that will have a positive impact on Taiwan's democratic development.

Chang Jung-wei's support for the KMT nominee Chang Gen-hui, a university professor with a reputation for integrity, rather than his old friend Chang Hui-yuan signals an intention to help guide local politics in a more constructive direction, Huang said.

Meanwhile, Legislative Yuan Speaker Wang Jin-pyng said he believes Chang Li-shan's withdrawal is related to a sense of crisis after she saw the internal split in the KMT brought about by the legislative by-election.

Without the backing of a unified party, Wang said, it would be an uphill battle for Chang Li-shan to challenge incumbent Yunlin Magistrate Su Chih-fen, a DPP stalwart.

Hsu Shu-po, head of the KMT's Yunlin County Chapter who at one time was eying the magistracy but dropped his bid before the party's primaries, said that for him Chang Li-shan's withdrawal was "the worst case scenario come true."

"I have no idea how to address this issue at the moment, " Hsu said, adding that he will discuss response measures with the KMT headquarters in order to minimize the impact of the candidate's withdrawal.