Mr Ma surged to an early lead when vote-counting started after 4pm, and his party, the Kuomintang, was already claiming victory just over two hours later.

Official results announced later showed that he had garnered 58.4 per cent of the votes compared with 41.6 per cent won by his DPP rival Frank Hsieh.

'This is a victory for people who hope for change and openness and reform,' Mr Ma, 57, told ecstatic supporters outside his campaign headquarters.

Despite predictions that the election could turn out to be a close race, he won more votes than any other candidate in Taiwan's direct presidential elections.

About 76 per cent of Taiwan's 17.3 million eligible voters turned out to cast their ballots.

Over at the DPP camp, Mr Hsieh conceded defeat in a speech to crestfallen supporters, many of them in tears.

'It's my defeat, not that of the Taiwanese people. Please don't cry for me,' said the former premier, 61. He said he would quit politics.

The defeat was another major blow for the DPP.

Having lost control of the legislature to the KMT in January, the party had campaigned hard to 'reverse the tide'.

But analysts say voters have had enough of a DPP president whose eight years in power had been marked by controversial and provocative acts that heightened tensions with China and whose administration had done little to grow the economy and been tainted by scandal.

So they voted for change, electing a candidate known as 'Mr Clean' who has promised not to make trouble and instead to work to revive the economy.

Indeed, Mr Ma, a former justice minister, again stressed the importance of a clean government.

'This is something I have learnt from Singapore. In their more than 40 years of nationbuilding, they have never for a second stopped stressing the importance of a clean government,' he said at a post-election press conference.

The United States and Singapore last night congratulated Mr Ma on his victory.

The election is closely watched in China and the US for signs of a new approach following President Chen Shui-bian's pro-independence antics.

Aside from Mr Ma's victory, yesterday clearly marked a revival of political fortunes for the KMT, which lost to the DPP in 2000 and again in 2004 by a razor-thin margin. Before that, the KMT had governed Taiwan for about 50 years.

Separately, two referendums on Taiwan's bid to join the United Nations failed to garner sufficient support yesterday.

Mr Ma will formally take office on May 20 but he is all geared up.

'The election ends today, and the governance starts tomorrow,' he told supporters.

hwee@sph.com.sg