Leading members of Taiwan's ruling Kuomintang party stayed tight-lipped about whether they would put themselves forward to be the next chairman - a contest that campaign analysts believe will spark fierce infighting. President Ma Ying-jeou's decision yesterday to resign as chairman to accept blame for the KMT's crushing defeat in the weekend's local elections is expected to ignite a heated power struggle within the party. "Competition for the post will be intense because whoever is elected the next KMT chairman will have a better chance of winning the party's nomination to stand in the 2016 presidential election," said Wang Yeh-lih, political science professor at National Taiwan University. But analysts said that any premature disclosure of such intent by a candidate would leave them open to attack by potential rivals. The KMT secured only one of the island's six key municipalities and five of 16 cities and counties. No party heavyweights have so far revealed an ambition to run for the top party post, opting instead to underscore the party's need for reform. "In the face of our unprecedented, crushing defeat, we have no time for a power struggle," Hung Hsiu-chu, deputy legislature speaker and the third vice-chairwoman of the KMT, said yesterday. Hung is seen as one of the party hopefuls to take on the permanent leadership role. She said that no one in the party could evade responsibility to help put the KMT back on track following its defeat. "If everybody leaves without a proper reason, then who will take charge of the party's affairs?" she asked. But she made no mention of how she would respond to the losses, including whether she would resign. So far, Tseng Yung-chuan, the second vice-chairman of the KMT, has resigned as secretary general of the party and has declined to become the interim KMT chairman. Taipei mayor Hau Lung-bin - the seventh vice-chairman, also tendered his resignation to assume responsibility for the party's results. Asked if she would run for the KMT's top post, Hung said: "The job of the acting chairperson is to elect a new leader, ensure that everything proceeds fairly, justly and openly - and that's all." She refused to be drawn into whether she had any ambitions to stand as a candidate. Huang Min-hui, the fourth vice-chairwoman - the outgoing mayor of Chiayi City - said she had no desire to cling on to her present position, but would be "willing to take part in helping to reform the KMT". Meanwhile, the two remaining KMT vice-chairmen - Eric Chu Li-luan, the newly re-elected New Taipei City mayor, and Jason Hu Chih-chiang, the outgoing Taichung mayor - both said they would not evade taking responsibility for reforming and improving the party.