Former New Taipei Mayor Eric Chu was elected chairman of the opposition Kuomintang on Saturday.
Chu won 85,164, or 46% of the votes, followed by National Taiwan University Professor Chang Ya-chung who won 60,632 votes, current KMT Chair Johnny Chiang who had 35,090 votes and former Changhua County Magistrate Cho Po-yuan who won just 5,133 votes.
Voter turnout was 51 percent.
Chu served as New Taipei mayor from 2010-2018 and KMT chairman from 2015-2016. He also ran on the KMT presidential ticket in 2016.
His plans for the party include a stronger international outreach, exchanges between Taiwan and China, giving opportunities to young KMT members, and party reforms.
Chu and Chang had clashed over their China policies as Chang had proposed signing a peace pact with China. Chu, on the other hand, believes that the KMT needs to appeal more to mainstream public opinion to be able to win the presidency.
The results of the chairmanship election will be given to the party's Central Standing Committee for confirmation on Sept. 29. The new chairman will assume office at the KMT National Congress on Oct. 30.