With fears of Beijing’s influence growing, a slowing economy and a series of food safety scandals, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is facing a rough ride in the nation’s biggest-ever local elections — seen as a barometer for the 2016 presidential elections.
Campaigning is well under way, with almost 20,000 candidates contesting a record 11,130 seats. From mayors to county chiefs, city councilors and village leaders, the elections on Saturday could see new appointees at every level of local government.
Campaign tactics have ranged from traditional street rallies to bizarre efforts to garner attention.
.jpg)
Photo: CNA
The KMT’s Greater Tainan mayoral candidate Huang Hsiu-shuang (黃秀霜) cast herself as a “dark horse” against her more popular Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) opponent — Tainan Mayor William Lai (賴清德) — by riding a black horse down the city’s streets.
Meanwhile, independent Kaohsiung mayoral candidate Chou Ko-sheng (周可盛) stripped to his underpants on stage as he drew his candidate number, shouting: “Naked to meet you, honesty is the best policy.”
It was, perhaps, an offbeat nod to the allegations of vote buying that have dogged election campaigns in some areas. Government figures say more than 2,400 people are being investigated, both candidates and supporters, mostly in rural locations. Two suspects were detained on Friday last week accused of bribing college students in a county council election.
.jpg)
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
“The public feels apathetic over the vote, so candidates are resorting to publicity grabbing tactics, rather than focusing on critical issues,” a KMT official said, who did not want to be named.
The vote comes at the end of a turbulent year which saw the legislature occupied in March by the Sunflower movement following President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) handling of the cross-strait services trade agreement.
Ties with Beijing have warmed since the KMT came to power in 2008, with trade booming and millions of Chinese tourists visiting the nation each year.
However, the improved relationship has led to anxiety that the nation is too reliant on China.
More than 12 million people are eligible to vote in the five special municipalities and Taoyuan County, which is due to become the sixth special municipality on Dec. 25, out of the nation’s total population of 23 million.
Stagnant incomes and soaring housing prices are a major source of complaint among voters, particularly for younger generations. The KMT is also under fire over a string of food safety scandals, the latest of which prompted the resignation of the minister of health and welfare after more than 1,000 restaurants, bakeries and food plants were found to have used adulterated cooking oil.
“The KMT has even seen their support from the military, teachers and government employees — who have long been stalwarts of the party — shaken after cuts to their pensions and benefits,” National Chengchi University social science professor Tung Chen-yuan (童振源) said.
Currently, the KMT is dominant in Taipei, New Taipei City, Taoyuan and Greater Taichung, while Greater Tainan and Greater Kaohsiung are traditionally DPP strongholds.
“I believe lots of young people would prefer to vote for the DPP, who have more reformist ideals,” Shih Yen-ting, a graduate student who participated in the Sunflower movement, told reporters.
A long-time KMT supporter, Claudia Wu, said she would abstain to reflect her disillusionment.
“I’m not going to vote this time as I was really disappointed in the poor performance of the government,” said Wu, who works for a construction company in Taipei. “Food safety is the most basic demand from the people. The government has to fill the people’s stomachs.”
The DPP has said the local elections are an important prelude to 2016 presidential elections, calling on supporters to cast a “no-confidence” vote.
The KMT-sponsored think tank the National Policy Foundation also emphasized the significance of Saturday’s local elections.
“If the results substantially change the present political landscape, they could impact the 2016 presidential vote,” it said in a research paper, “and even influence Taiwan’s political ecology in the next 10 years.”
Additional reporting by staff writer
An undersea cable to Penghu County has been severed, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said today, with a Chinese-funded ship suspected of being responsible. It comes just a month after a Chinese ship was suspected of severing an undersea cable north of Keelung Harbor. The National Communications and Cyber Security Center received a report at 3:03am today from Chunghwa Telecom that the No. 3 cable from Taiwan to Penghu was severed 14.7km off the coast of Tainan, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) upon receiving a report from Chunghwa Telecom began to monitor the Togolese-flagged Hong Tai (宏泰)
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
RISING TOURISM: A survey showed that tourist visits increased by 35 percent last year, while newly created attractions contributed almost half of the growth Changhua County’s Lukang Old Street (鹿港老街) and its surrounding historical area clinched first place among Taiwan’s most successful tourist attractions last year, while no location in eastern Taiwan achieved a spot in the top 20 list, the Tourism Administration said. The listing was created by the Tourism Administration’s Forward-looking Tourism Policy Research office. Last year, the Lukang Old Street and its surrounding area had 17.3 million visitors, more than the 16 million visitors for the Wenhua Road Night Market (文化路夜市) in Chiayi City and 14.5 million visitors at Tainan’s Anping (安平) historical area, it said. The Taipei 101 skyscraper and its environs —
Taiwan on Friday said a New Zealand hamburger restaurant has apologized for a racist remark to a Taiwanese customer after reports that it had first apologized to China sparked outrage in Taiwan. An image posted on Threads by a Taiwanese who ate at Fergburger in Queenstown showed that their receipt dated Sunday last week included the words “Ching Chang,” a racial slur. The Chinese Consulate-General in Christchurch in a statement on Thursday said it had received and accepted an apology from the restaurant over the incident. The comment triggered an online furor among Taiwanese who saw it as an insult to the
RSS