The race to represent Kaohsiung in the legislature is more likely to be decided by a candidate's personal image than campaign issues -- though traditional methods of persuasion such as vote-buying may continue to be a factor, political observers say.
Voters on Dec. 1 will pick 11 of 36 candidates to represent Kaohsiung in the legislature.
The image factor
TAIPEI TIMES FILE PHOTO
Political observers say that many of the city's 1 million voters are middle-class workers and are generally under-educated and easily agitated by ethnic tensions and ideological clashes.
That means voters are more likely to pay attention to a candidate's image and personal credentials, rather than traditional campaign themes.
"Most Kaohsiung voters are blue-collar and their voting preference is more candidate or party-oriented than campaign issue-oriented," said Liao Da-chi (
Vote-buying
"There are, however, also traditional voters who are easily persuaded through [vote-buying]."
Liao said that vote-buying in Kaohsiung could be as rampant as in past elections, though the DPP government has been keeping a close eye on campaign irregularities.
But one problem is that the money to buy votes was obtained more than six months ago, which makes it difficult for police to track irregularities now, the professor said.
Still, Cheng Kuang-feng (
"To the DPP's advantage, the justice ministry's crackdown on possible vote-buying in southern Taiwan has frightened off some voters from accepting bribes," Cheng said.
"[Vote-buying] is down by at least half."
In addition, with the KMT out of power, that party's former method of using state resources to buy votes no longer works.
Also, the economic downturn has led many candidates to be less extravagant in their campaign spending, Cheng said.
Cheng estimated that this year's election turnout would decrease from about 82 percent to around 70 percent since some voters would not go to the polls because they were not tipped.
Economic, political quagmires
Both Liao and Cheng hope the DPP's election prospects are good enough to maintain five seats, although the party is vulnerable to criticism triggered by the city's high unemployment rate and the country's economic woes.
"However, the party has successfully convinced voters in Kaohsiung that the opposition's obstruction in the legislature has lead to the current political impasse," Liao said.
The KMT, however, believes that the ruling party should still be held responsible for the political deadlock.
"I feel that voters are very indifferent [to the elections] this time. They thought they got rid of the KMT which they disliked, but it turns out that they are now deeply disappointed with the ruling DPP," said KMT legislator Chiang Yi-wen (江綺雯) from Kaohsiung's southern constituency, who is now running for a seat in the northern district.
The KMT is also confident of its election prospects, saying it hopes to grab at least four seats.
"After the party's reregistration our supporters have been agglomerated," said Tien Ching-yi (
A divided opposition
The DPP's Cheng, however, said that the opposition bloc -- including the KMT, the People First Party (PFP) and the New Party -- has fielded too many candidates and may siphon off one another's votes, risking any gain in the bloc's number of seats.
Among opposition candidates, the PFP's Chiu Yi (
"The party is highly vulnerable to Hsieh Chi-ta (
Wang, nevertheless, added that the party still aims to gain more votes and secure supporters for the long term.
First timers
As for the newly-formed Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU), it, like the PFP, faces its first election after since its founding.
"Our success lies in whether [former president] Lee Teng-hui's (
Going solo
Half of the city's legislative candidates are running independently. It may be too early to predict their election prospects, but observers say that they certainly pose threats to other party candidates.
Liao said that, in the southern district, former legislator Ju Gao-jeng (朱高正) has been very good at making news and grabbing attention, while Lin Kuan-hei (林崑海), the owner of Sanlih TV (三立電視), has the most campaign resources.
In the northern district, both Wang Tein-ging (
"We may be surprised to see some dark horses being elected from the independent candidates' poll," Liao added.
This year's contest promises to be the toughest. Thirty-six candidates are vying for 11 seats; the city's 1 million eligible voters -- divided into southern and northern constituencies -- will elect five and six legislators, respectively.
Auckland rang in 2026 with a downtown fireworks display launched from New Zealand’s tallest structure, Sky Tower, making it the first major city to greet the new year at a celebration dampened by rain, while crowds in Taipei braved the elements to watch Taipei 101’s display. South Pacific countries are the first to bid farewell to 2025. Clocks struck midnight in Auckland, with a population of 1.7 million, 18 hours before the famous ball was to drop in New York’s Times Square. The five-minute display involved 3,500 fireworks launched from the 240m Sky Tower. Smaller community events were canceled across New Zealand’s
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday said it is closely monitoring developments in Venezuela, and would continue to cooperate with democratic allies and work together for regional and global security, stability, and prosperity. The remarks came after the US on Saturday launched a series of airstrikes in Venezuela and kidnapped Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who was later flown to New York along with his wife. The pair face US charges related to drug trafficking and alleged cooperation with gangs designated as terrorist organizations. Maduro has denied the allegations. The ministry said that it is closely monitoring the political and economic situation
‘SLICING METHOD’: In the event of a blockade, the China Coast Guard would intercept Taiwanese ships while its navy would seek to deter foreign intervention China’s military drills around Taiwan this week signaled potential strategies to cut the nation off from energy supplies and foreign military assistance, a US think tank report said. The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) conducted what it called “Justice Mission 2025” exercises from Monday to Tuesday in five maritime zones and airspace around Taiwan, calling them a warning to “Taiwanese independence” forces. In a report released on Wednesday, the Institute for the Study of War said the exercises effectively simulated blocking shipping routes to major port cities, including Kaohsiung, Keelung and Hualien. Taiwan would be highly vulnerable under such a blockade, because it
UNRELENTING: China attempted cyberattacks on Taiwan’s critical infrastructure 2.63 million times per day last year, up from 1.23 million in 2023, the NSB said China’s cyberarmy has long engaged in cyberattacks against Taiwan’s critical infrastructure, employing diverse and evolving tactics, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said yesterday, adding that cyberattacks on critical energy infrastructure last year increased 10-fold compared with the previous year. The NSB yesterday released a report titled Analysis on China’s Cyber Threats to Taiwan’s Critical Infrastructure in 2025, outlining the number of cyberattacks, major tactics and hacker groups. Taiwan’s national intelligence community identified a large number of cybersecurity incidents last year, the bureau said in a statement. China’s cyberarmy last year launched an average of 2.63 million intrusion attempts per day targeting Taiwan’s critical
RSS