The Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) Greater Taichung mayoral candidate, Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍), is leading Greater Taichung Mayor Jason Hu (胡志強) with a support rate of 45.8 percent against the latter’s 30.8 percent, according to a poll conducted by the Central Taiwan Society.
The poll, released by the pro-localization civic group on Friday, showed 36.7 percent of city residents did not support Hu due to his long time in office — 12 years as of this year — while 37.3 percent were dissatisfied with his governance.
The Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) Hu was elected as Greater Taichung mayor in 2001 and re-elected in 2005.
He won the election as the first-term municipal mayor after the merger of Taichung City and Taichung County in 2010.
Last week, Hu announced his bid to be the party’s candidate in the year-end mayoral election.
In the poll, 55 percent of respondents said they supported a change of mayor, while 34 percent of the respondents who claimed they were pan-blue supporters also said they supported letting someone else try their hand at governing the city.
The poll found that 44.2 percent of respondents were dissatisfied with Hu’s governance, while 42 percent were satisfied.
Meanwhile, 55.8 percent of residents polled expressed confidence in Lin, with more than 40 percent expressing support for Lin.
In terms of city construction and the administration’s performance, the top three complaints were transportation and road construction, public safety and public policy, the poll showed, with 56 percent of Greater Taichung residents calling for a metro railsystem instead of a Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) system.
Seventy percent of residents complained about the city-county merger into a municipality in 2010, saying it was detrimental to development.
Additional reporting by Chang Ching-ya
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
Eleven people, including actor Darren Wang (王大陸), were taken into custody today for questioning regarding the evasion of compulsory military service and document forgery, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. Eight of the people, including Wang, are suspected of evading military service, while three are suspected of forging medical documents to assist them, the report said. They are all being questioned by police and would later be transferred to the prosecutors’ office for further investigation. Three men surnamed Lee (李), Chang (張) and Lin (林) are suspected of improperly assisting conscripts in changing their military classification from “stand-by
LITTORAL REGIMENTS: The US Marine Corps is transitioning to an ‘island hopping’ strategy to counterattack Beijing’s area denial strategy The US Marine Corps (USMC) has introduced new anti-drone systems to bolster air defense in the Pacific island chain amid growing Chinese military influence in the region, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. The new Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) Mk 1 is being developed to counter “the growing menace of unmanned aerial systems,” it cited the Marine Corps as saying. China has constructed a powerful defense mechanism in the Pacific Ocean west of the first island chain by deploying weapons such as rockets, submarines and anti-ship missiles — which is part of its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy against adversaries — the