Nantou council race draws 17 candidates in District 1 as District 3 becomes a fight to the finish

Registration for Nantou County’s nine-in-one elections closed with the Democratic Progressive Party completing its candidates for all 13 township and city mayoral races.

Li Mingjie, a coffee specialist, registered as an independent candidate for Guoxing township chief, while Huang Youxin, a secretary in the Yuchi township office, entered the race there with DPP backing. Nantou County Magistrate Hsu Shu-hua of the Kuomintang is seeking re-election against Wen Shih-cheng of the DPP.

Shuǐlǐ township’s contest drew four registered candidates, making it the most crowded mayoral race. Nantou City, Lugu, Zhushan and Xinyi each have three-way contests. Three candidates are challenging incumbent Ye Ming-feng in Shuǐlǐ.

The county council races produced 61 candidates across eight districts, one fewer than four years ago. District 1 has 17 candidates competing for 10 seats, while District 3 has six candidates seeking three seats. Four of the District 3 candidates are incumbents, prompting local media to describe the contest as a fight to the finish. In District 4, nine candidates are competing for four seats, including Council Speaker Ho Sheng-feng.

District 2, whose seats increased from eight to nine, has 13 candidates, one more than in the previous election. This year’s election bulletin also added declarations on whether candidates had renounced their original nationality or hold another nationality. The change mainly targets candidates from immigrant families. Shi Xueyan, a Chinese spouse, was the only candidate to register under that category. She checked both boxes but did not say in an interview whether she had renounced Chinese nationality. The Central Election Commission will determine her eligibility.