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🇹🇼 Taiwan /Elections & Politics

Blue and white alliance seeks an upset as Chang Chi-kai challenges Wang Mei-hui’s advantage

From Liberty Times · () Chinese

Translated from Chinese and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

Analysis Named sources Context piece
  • Five candidates have registered for Chiayi City’s mayoral election, with Wang Mei-hui and Chang Chi-kai emerging as the main contenders.
  • Wang draws on deep local roots and party organization, while Chang is campaigning with the backing of the Kuomintang and Taiwan People’s Party and the support of incumbent Huang Min-hui.
  • Chang initially trailed Wang in support and favorability, but his campaign says the gap has narrowed as the election enters its final phase.

Chiayi City’s mayoral race is increasingly defined by a contest between Democratic Progressive Party candidate Wang Mei-hui and Chang Chi-kai, the Taiwan People’s Party candidate jointly backed by the Kuomintang and the TPP. Five candidates have registered, but the Wang-Chang matchup dominates the campaign.

the most local and the hardest-working

· Wang Mei-huiWang’s campaign slogan and appeal to Chiayi voters.

Wang is presenting herself as “the most local and the hardest-working” candidate. Her campaign benefits from a united city party organization, and she is viewed as the strongest candidate to lead the DPP in reclaiming a city regarded as a “holy land of democracy.” She has built her local profile over more than two decades as a legislative aide, councilor and legislator. Since entering the legislature, she has secured more than NT$10 billion in construction funds for Chiayi and promises to become a mayor for everyone.

Chang, a Chiayi County native who spent many years working elsewhere, reconnected with the city after becoming a legislator-at-large two years ago. He emerged from a joint Kuomintang-TPP poll and is campaigning on continuity under incumbent Mayor Huang Min-hui. Huang governed for 17 years across two nonconsecutive terms and received a five-star local leader rating four times in surveys by Global Views Monthly. Despite that record, Chiayi has become a difficult district for the Kuomintang as Huang prepares to hand over power.

There are problems with the Chiayi City race.

· Cheng Li-wunThe Kuomintang chairwoman’s assessment of the alliance’s position in the election.

Chang began the alliance campaign in June, using billboards showing him with Huang. Huang declared full support, while the Kuomintang city organization held 100 living-room meetings and sent Chang into the field with Kuomintang council candidates. Kuomintang Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun acknowledged that the race had problems, while TPP Chairman Huang Kuo-chang said the alliance was “happy and indestructible.” Chang’s camp says it has closed the gap and is targeting younger voters. Wang’s team has responded to attacks over the delayed Chiayi light-rail project and released a campaign organization spanning national and local politics and different sectors. Local talk has also focused on an alleged underground betting line that reportedly gives Wang a lead of more than 25,000 votes, raising questions over whether it reflects public opinion or attempts to manipulate the election.

The blue-white cooperation is happy and indestructible.

· Huang Kuo-changThe Taiwan People’s Party chairman’s expression of confidence in the alliance.
About this summary

Originally published by Liberty Times in Chinese. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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