Although the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) incumbent has an edge in the tight Keelung mayor race, a split in the pan-blue vote will likely decide the outcome -- and could even hand the post to the Taiwan Solidarity Union's (TSU) candidate, despite the seaport's traditionally pro-blue tinge.
According to a recent poll conducted on Nov. 18 and Nov. 19 by the Liberty Times, the Taipei Times' sister newspaper, Mayor Hsu Tsai-li (
However, fully 43.57 percent of respondents declined to state their preference in the poll -- a silent mass of voters that will likely be decisive.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Wang Tuoh (
As the DPP's nominee for the Keelung mayoral race, Wang withdrew from the race to support the TSU's Chen, though he will still be listed on Saturday's ballot. That withdrawal boosted the pan-green camp's chances in two races: in response to the DPP's goodwill in Keelung, the director of the TSU's organization department, Liu Yi-teh (
Among the three candidates, Hsu has the advantage of having been involved in Keelung politics for more than 30 years. He enjoys a strong political base in the city because of that long experience, and also has an edge as the incumbent in the race.
However, several polls in the past four years have also indicated low rates of support for Hsu -- among the lowest of all mayors and commissioners nationwide.
Earlier this month Hsu was suspected of involvement in a city government land purchase scandal, and his poll numbers dipped.
The TSU's Chen is trying to take advantage of the split on the pan-blue side and unite pan-green voters. To promote Chen's campaign, president Chen Shui-bian (
The PFP's Liou, meanwhile, has busied himself attacking Hsu's poor performance in office and his suspected involvement in the land purchase scandal, in a bid to attract disenchanted pan-blue voters.
Because the PFP has only a small number of candidates in Saturday's elections, PFP chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) was expected to focus his efforts on boosting Liou's campaign in its last few days.
Keelung City candidates:
Hsu Tsai-li 許財利
Party: Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)
Age:59
Education: BA from the National Open University
Political background:
1993-2001, Speaker of Keelung City Council
2001-2005, Keelung Mayor
Chen Chien-ming 陳建銘
Party: Taiwan Solidarity Union
Age: 44
Education: BA from Fu Jen Catholic University; PhD in management from the California School of Proessional Psychology
Political background:
2001-2004, Legislator from Taipei City
2005, TSU Secretary-General
Liu Wen-hsiung 劉文雄
Party: People First Party
Age: 51
Education: BA from National Chengchi University
Political Background:
1996-1998, Taiwan Provincial Assembly
1998-2005, Legislator from Keelung City
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
UNAWARE: Many people sit for long hours every day and eat unhealthy foods, putting them at greater risk of developing one of the ‘three highs,’ an expert said More than 30 percent of adults aged 40 or older who underwent a government-funded health exam were unaware they had at least one of the “three highs” — high blood pressure, high blood lipids or high blood sugar, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday. Among adults aged 40 or older who said they did not have any of the “three highs” before taking the health exam, more than 30 percent were found to have at least one of them, Adult Preventive Health Examination Service data from 2022 showed. People with long-term medical conditions such as hypertension or diabetes usually do not
POLICE INVESTIGATING: A man said he quit his job as a nurse at Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital as he had been ‘disgusted’ by the behavior of his colleagues A man yesterday morning wrote online that he had witnessed nurses taking photographs and touching anesthetized patients inappropriately in Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital’s operating theaters. The man surnamed Huang (黃) wrote on the Professional Technology Temple bulletin board that during his six-month stint as a nurse at the hospital, he had seen nurses taking pictures of patients, including of their private parts, after they were anesthetized. Some nurses had also touched patients inappropriately and children were among those photographed, he said. Huang said this “disgusted” him “so much” that “he felt the need to reveal these unethical acts in the operating theater
Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching