Though Ilan County is not an economic or political nerve center, the county commissioner's campaign has become a point of unusual interest for the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) because it has been ruled by the DPP and dangwai (non-KMT) candidates for 24 years.
The focus of the three-candidate campaign is the battle between the DPP's Chen Ding-nan (陳定南), a former justice minister and two-term Ilan county commissioner, and the KMT's Lu Kuo-hua (呂國華), who has completed his term as mayor of Ilan City.
Twenty-four years ago, Chen ran for the commissioner's post and paved the way for long-term DPP control of the county after the party formed in 1986.
Chen's self-discipline and exacting personality earned him a lot of credibility and this helped him in a successful run for the legislature a few years later.
As for Lu, who started his career as a social worker, long-time devotion toward Ilan was recognized when he was elected to the local constituency of Ilan City, where he proved to be a popular mayor.
Latest polling shows that Lu is leading Chen by 10 percentage points. Analysts for local newspapers estimate, however, that the gap between Chen and Lu will be much closer on the day.
Lu said he was not fully confident that he would win and that the battle was not over, so he could not simply sit back and relax.
"Leading in the polls does not necessarily mean winning the election," Lu said in a telephone interview. "As far as Chen's challenge is concerned, I will watch my step and keep up the fight until the very end."
For his part, Chen says that he is not bothered by the polling figures, and that his campaign will continue to work hard to attract votes. Presidential Office Secretary-General Yu Shyi-kun, a former premier and Chen's two-term successor as Ilan County commissioner, also returned to his hometown on Wednesday to help Chen with campaign activities.
"Although the polls show that Lu is more popular than me, I am not too worried about it because the same poll also showed that nearly 30 percent of those polled had not decided who they were voting for. These 30 percent of votes will be something that I will be working on," Chen told the Taipei Times.
Unlike Lu, Chen faces considerable pressure because of his impressive political record.
Chen quit as justice minister in January to run for the commissioner's post. However, his decision to return to Ilan was not embraced by local DPP members because the younger generation of the party felt that Chen was robbing them of an opportunity to move up in the political world.
Recent scandals have also damaged the DPP's image and reputation locally, a fact that must seem ironic to Chen, given his solid performance as justice minister.
To make matters worse, Chen is being investigated by Ilan prosecutors after an anonymous source alleged last week that Chen had tried to buy votes by organizing free dinners at his rallies.
Chen has responded by telling his supporters that he will only serve one term as commissioner if he wins, and that once he has reignited DPP morale he will pass the baton to the next generation.
But complaints by younger DPP members may well have added impetus to Lu's campaign: His slogan is, "Keep walking, keep moving."
The pan-blue camp regards the pan-green camp's difficulties this year as a great chance for its candidate to win back what has been a tough electorate.
Lu wants Ilan voters to support a younger candidate with "fresh ideas" for Ilan instead of supporting an "outdated" candidate.
But this is not the first time that Lu has run for Ilan County commissioner. He was the current Commissioner Liu Shou-cheng's (劉守成) opponent four years ago, but lost by 8,000 votes.
"I believe that most of the people of Ilan are looking for a change. I am looking for a change, too," Lu said.
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