From elected official to campaign organizer: Eight Yunlin councillors hand seats to relatives

Eight sitting councillors in Taiwan's Yunlin County are stepping aside to support family members in the next election. The relatives include wives, children and brothers, turning the incumbents from candidates into campaign organizers.

The Yunlin County Council will expand from 43 to 45 seats. A total of 73 people have registered, making the contest highly competitive. Six existing constituencies will elect 43 councillors, while one mountain Indigenous seat and one plains Indigenous seat will be added.

The eight handovers include former council speaker Shen Tsung-lung to his son Shen Yu-ting, deputy speaker Tsai Yung-te to his wife Huang Mei-lan, Wang Yu-min to his son Wang Chun-yi, Tsai Tung-fu to his wife Hung Hui-ling, Cheng Ling-hui to her daughter Wang Yi-ti, Yang Kuo-kuan to his son Yang Chih-kai, Su Kuo-lung to his brother Su Kuo-yi, and Tsai Yung-fu to his brother Tsai Yung-shun.

Tsai Yung-fu's son, Tsai Chia-chun, is also challenging for the county's first mountain Indigenous councillor seat. In the fifth constituency, one family is therefore supporting two candidates. With 83 days left before the November 28 vote, the campaigns have entered an intense phase. Several of the outgoing councillors said they could not relax before the ballots were counted and that campaigning for someone else was more nerve-racking than running themselves.