The younger Wu reportedly defeated his sole opponent, county council speaker Tseng Chung-yi, by 61.19 percent to 38.8 percent, according to reports.

The party held both a vote by KMT members and opinion polls to gauge the popularity of both men. Wu finished 5 percent ahead of Tseng in the vote, which accounted for 30 percent of the whole selection process. The turnout for the party members’ primary vote was only 30 percent, reports said.

In the opinion polls, which accounted for 70 percent, Wu ended 17 percent ahead of Tseng. The election for a new county magistrate is scheduled for December.

John Wu had been repeatedly dogged by accusations that he enjoyed an unfair advantage because of his father’s job as the head of Taiwan’s most powerful political party. His candidacy was also seen by critics as a concession by President Ma Ying-jeou in return for taking over the party leadership.

Ma won the party election for a new chairman as the sole candidate on July 26, but will not take over from Wu until a party congress in September.

During a speech in June, Ma once seemed to be hinting at support for John Wu’s candidacy, provoking criticism that he was meddling in local politics.

Taoyuan County is one of Taiwan’s most populous counties, and has a significant amount of residents from the Hakka minority, to which Wu belongs. The incumbent county magistrate, Eric Chu, is vice chairman of the KMT and is widely seen as a rising star in Taiwan politics.

The opposition Democratic Progressive Party has not nominated a candidate for Taoyuan yet. Previous media reports have named chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen as a possible choice.