TAIWAN'S former leadership candidate Frank Hsieh on Wednesday stepped down as head of the ruling party after his crushing defeat during the island's last weekend election.

The defeat"is my personal setback and I will take the responsibility,"Hsieh told a top-level meeting of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

Hsieh was trounced by Ma Ying-jeou of the Kuomintang in the leadership polls, the DPP's second setback in three months after having lost the "parliament" in January.

Hsieh called for an overhaul of the party"if the DPP is to regain the trust of people."

To that goal, he also demanded"the holding of an extraordinary party congress, during which different voices can be heard and the party's future development direction can be worked out through a brainstorming process."

Political analysts said a string of corruption scandals, the foremost one involving Taiwan leader Chen Shui-bian and his family, was one of the key factors to blame for the defeat. (SD-Agencies)

Chen swept to power in 2000 on a platform of reform to end the KMT's half-century rule of the island. He narrowly won re-election in 2004.

But while he focused much of his attention on pushing for the formal"independence" of Taiwan, his reformist agenda ground to a halt and he himself leaves office on May 20 under the threat of indictment for corruption.(SD-Agencies)