As President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) hand-picked contender, Su Huan-chih (蘇煥智) has enjoyed significant popularity in Tainan County, the president's birthplace. However, his popularity appears to be slipping as recent opinion polls place him neck and neck with the KMT's Wu Ching-chi (吳清基).
Many have attributed Su's slide to his estrangement from incumbent DPP Tainan County Commissioner Mark Chen (陳唐山).
Su has categorically rejected that notion, however, insisting that Commissioner Chen has said he will support his bid.
"[Chen] is a man of wisdom. And he can certainly tell right from wrong on issues of major importance," Su said, claiming that the two have set aside their differences in light of Su's campaign.
Su's relationship with Chen deteriorated after he voiced his strong opposition to the Pinnan Industrial Complex project, endorsed by the commissioner in 1996. In August that year, Su made public his concerns over what he said would be the project' s negative impact on the environment. He also initiated an eight-day march across the nation held in conjunction with several environmental groups which contributed to the project being put on hold.
"The project, which aimed to develop oil-refining and the petrochemical and steel industries, would definitely have damaged the only saline lake in Chiku, Tainan, home to the world's rarest ecological landscape," Su said.
The nearby Chiku Lagoon is also where the endangered black-faced spoonbills spend the winter.
Su is said to have further enraged Commissioner Chen last year when he vetoed the president's proposal to have the commissioner head the National Science Council.
Despite his disagreements with Commissioner Chen, Su enjoys enthusiastic support from the president. First lady Wu Shu-chen (吳淑珍) is expected to stump for Su on Friday.
"The presidential couple's support [for me] will absolutely be translated into votes," Su said.
Dubbed the "rural reformist" (
Su was raised in poor farming family with five siblings and has said he grew up with a strong sense of social justice and a love for country and nature.
Su's first brush with politics was in the late 1970s as a college student, when he helped former DPP chairman Lin I-hsiung (
"That was the first time I came into contact with [activists from the] opposition movement," Su said.
Having served three consecutive terms in the legislature, Su believes that he is the best candidate to fill the commissioner's shoes. "[The new commissioner] should focus on the county's high-tech [capabilities] and economic development. [He should have] a strong work ethic, be able to understand the plight of local citizens and lead the county through the expected hard times ahead after Taiwan joins the World Trade Organization."
Chen added that he had endorsed most of the current commissioner's prosperity initiatives and his proposals for enhancing the county's high-tech capabilities.
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