The Tainan County commissioner race would be an easy victory for the DPP were it not for the fact that influential incumbent Mark Chen (陳唐山), has long felt resentment for the party's candidate, Su Huan-chih (蘇煥智), observers say.
"Chen will have a decisive influence on the race's outcome," said the county's former deputy commissioner, Lin Wen-ding (
Lin said opinion polls show that around 40 percent of eligible voters in the county have not yet decided how they will vote "and 20 percent of them are likely to vote for the candidate whom the commissioner supports.
"Any DPP candidate but Su, who Chen will never support, could easily win the race since the party has ruled the county for eight years and President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) secured 53 percent of the county's votes in the last presidential election," Lin said.
Lin added he was not optimistic about the "presidential card" that he says Su is playing.
"Support for the president has not turned into a bonus for Su," he said.
The DPP regards the Tainan County contest as crucial to safeguarding the president's standing.
Su's campaign manager Yan Chwen-tzo (顏純左) said that county residents respect politicians who look after the county's interests or hail from the county itself. "As a native of the county, President Chen is without doubt the best possible campaigner for Su and will certainly bring in votes," Yan said.
Yan called for a united front by DPP supporters and urged Commissioner Chen to put aside his personal resentment of Su in order to fight the forces Yan said are trying to split the party.
Reiterating that Chen would never campaign for Su, Lin said that the best strategy for Su to employ would be to counter Chen's open support for the two other candidates -- Wei and the KMT's Wu Ching-chi (
Yan said that if Mark Chen supports Wei, the independent candidate's former colleagues in the DPP could come out in Wei's support.
Frustrated with media speculation, Chen's legislative campaign manager Lin I-hsiung (林義雄) responded by saying that "as a DPP member, Chen will certainly support the DPP candidate."
Moreover, the president on Sunday succeeded in persuading Chen's top advisor in previous campaigns, Wu Nan-ho (
The infighting between Su and Chen is to seen to be to Wu's advantage and could cost Su the election.
"Wu and Su are the two major competitors in the race," said John Shen (沈榮峰), the executive director of the KMT's Tainan chapter. Shen said that the KMT would not ignore Wei's campaign although he is currently a distant third.
Shen added that unlike previous KMT candidates, Wu was capable of attracting voters from all factions, saying, that he "has never been involved in local politics" and had no enemies.
People First Party Chairman James Soong (
FALSE DOCUMENTS? Actor William Liao said he was ‘voluntarily cooperating’ with police after a suspect was accused of helping to produce false medical certificates Police yesterday questioned at least six entertainers amid allegations of evasion of compulsory military service, with Lee Chuan (李銓), a member of boy band Choc7 (超克7), and actor Daniel Chen (陳大天) among those summoned. The New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office in January launched an investigation into a group that was allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified medical documents. Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) has been accused of being one of the group’s clients. As the investigation expanded, investigators at New Taipei City’s Yonghe Precinct said that other entertainers commissioned the group to obtain false documents. The main suspect, a man surnamed
DEMOGRAPHICS: Robotics is the most promising answer to looming labor woes, the long-term care system and national contingency response, an official said Taiwan is to launch a five-year plan to boost the robotics industry in a bid to address labor shortages stemming from a declining and aging population, the Executive Yuan said yesterday. The government approved the initiative, dubbed the Smart Robotics Industry Promotion Plan, via executive order, senior officials told a post-Cabinet meeting news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s population decline would strain the economy and the nation’s ability to care for vulnerable and elderly people, said Peter Hong (洪樂文), who heads the National Science and Technology Council’s (NSTC) Department of Engineering and Technologies. Projections show that the proportion of Taiwanese 65 or older would
Democracies must remain united in the face of a shifting geopolitical landscape, former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) told the Copenhagen Democracy Summit on Tuesday, while emphasizing the importance of Taiwan’s security to the world. “Taiwan’s security is essential to regional stability and to defending democratic values amid mounting authoritarianism,” Tsai said at the annual forum in the Danish capital. Noting a “new geopolitical landscape” in which global trade and security face “uncertainty and unpredictability,” Tsai said that democracies must remain united and be more committed to building up resilience together in the face of challenges. Resilience “allows us to absorb shocks, adapt under
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said it is building nine new advanced wafer manufacturing and packaging factories this year, accelerating its expansion amid strong demand for high-performance computing (HPC) and artificial intelligence (AI) applications. The chipmaker built on average five factories per year from 2021 to last year and three from 2017 to 2020, TSMC vice president of advanced technology and mask engineering T.S. Chang (張宗生) said at the company’s annual technology symposium in Hsinchu City. “We are quickening our pace even faster in 2025. We plan to build nine new factories, including eight wafer fabrication plants and one advanced
RSS