New Taipei KMT lawmakers rally behind Lee Chuan and chant for eight more years

New Taipei’s Kuomintang councillors turned a city council session into a show of support for mayoral candidate Lee Chuan, holding signs with photos of Mayor Hou You-yi and chanting, “Eight more years, Hou Hou gets things done.”

The display came as the New Taipei City Council opened the final regular session of its fourth term. Hou attended the session for a general questioning session. When councillor Chen Yi-chun asked whom he supported to succeed him, Hou did not name Lee directly. He said he backed someone who could get things done, had experience and had a record recognized by the public.

Chen then invited the KMT caucus to cheer for Lee, the party’s New Taipei mayoral candidate. Before questioning began, Yilan mayoral candidate Wu Tsung-hsien also returned to the council, greeting Hou, council speaker Chiang Ken-huang and KMT lawmakers for photographs.

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Eight more years, Hou Hou gets things done.

Chen said New Taipei and Taipei had introduced similar policies this year, including milk weeks and free school lunches, but argued that the central government’s tax allocation system treated New Taipei as a second-class citizen. She said New Taipei’s per-capita budget was half that of Taipei and that the city had to raise its own money for many public services, including rail construction.

Hou said New Taipei and Yilan could develop into a cross-regional living area because they were close to each other. He also said resource allocation should reflect the different needs of each county and city. New Taipei, he noted, has a large population and wide territory and is at a peak period for public construction, making central funding important while the city seeks to increase revenue and reduce spending.

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I support someone who gets things done, can get things done, has experience, and whose past achievements have won public recognition.