At a Tainan campaign rally yesterday, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) called on all supporters to go to the polls on Saturday and to vote not only for her and the party’s legislative candidates, but for its at-large seats.
“Those of you who support Tsai and the DPP’s candidates must go to the polling stations and cast your ballots because many people think that the DPP is so sure of winning that it would not matter if they do not vote,” Tsai told the rally in front of the Kaitai Tianhou Temple (開台天后宮) in the city’s Anping District (安平), one of the nation’s oldest temples.
“However, we really need your votes and by casting a ballot, we are not just voting, we are also expressing our aspirations for the future,” she said.
Photo: Jui-chin, Taipei Times
All the nominees on the DPP’s at-large list are very good candidates, she said, urging the supporters to concentrate their at-large votes on the DPP.
“Please cast all your at-large votes to the DPP, do not deviate, do not divide votes [among different parties],” she said.
Tsai’s plea came amid speculations that traditional pro-DPP voters might choose to cast their at-large ballots for smaller parties — such as the New Power Party and the Green Party-Social Democratic Party Alliance, which share similar ideologies with the DPP — to increase diversity in the legislature and because they think the party has a large enough support base to guarantee its at-large list.
Photo: Reuters
Tsai also urged older voters to ask their children who might be working or going to school elsewhere to return home to vote.
After the rally, Tsai joined campaign parades through Tainan and Chiayi for DPP legislative candidates that drew tens of thousands of people along the route, many of who waved flags and cheered as the motorcade passed.
The Tainan parade was to stump for Chen Ting-fei (陳亭妃), Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲), Huang Wei-cher (黃偉哲) and Yeh Yi-jin (葉宜津).
“Here comes Tsai Ing-wen! President Tsai is here!” legislative candidates and campaign staffers repeated through loudspeakers as the procession made its way along the parade route, joined by more than 100 supporters on scooters.
Smiling broadly, Tsai waved to supporters, bystanders and those looking on from windows.
While DPP supporters in Tainan were enthusiastic, those in Chiayi appeared even more excited, as thousands lined up on both sides the streets, holding placards that read “I love Ing-wen” or “Taiwan’s first female president,” screaming, shouting slogans, waving their hands and making the V-shaped gesture, symbolizing both “victory” and Tsai’s candidate number, “2.”
The lines seemed endless and spread throughout the city, as opposed to the clusters seen elsewhere.
The DPP parade caused traffic jams, but drivers appeared unfazed, with some rolling down their car windows or rolling back sunroofs so they or their children could wave and cheer.
Many of the parade watchers in Tainan and Chiayi ignored regulations that bar firecrackers and fireworks from being set off in a 200m radius of a presidential candidate, and police and security officers did not intervene.
Tsai ended her day with another rally in Tainan.
She is scheduled to take part in a campaign parade through Chiayi and Yunlin counties today.
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