The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday said it was cautiously optimistic about the Greater Taichung mayoral election in November, with the party’s candidate, DPP Legislator Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍), leading incumbent Mayor Jason Hu (胡志強) by almost 20 percentage points in the party’s latest survey.
“In a poll conducted by the DPP three days ago, Lin enjoyed a comfortable lead of 48 percent to Hu’s 29 percent. Moreover, 45.3 percent of respondents favored Lin as the winner, with only 29.6 percent picking Hu, who is seeking re-election,” DPP spokesperson Hsu Chia-ching (徐佳青) said.
With Lin consistently leading in a series of public opinion polls, the DPP is hopeful of victory in Greater Taichung — a key constituency that DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) has called a “must-win” and a barometer of the party’s success in the seven-in-one elections.
Tsai has said the DPP is targeting wins in at least nine of the 22 mayoral and commissioner races.
In Changhua County, the DPP visited former county commissioner Huang Shih-cheng (黃石城), father of independent hopeful Huang Wen-ling (黃文玲), to explore a possible collaboration, the spokesperson said.
Whether Huang Wen-ling, a former Taiwan Solidarity Union legislator, agrees to a cooperation, the DPP has confidence in its own candidate, DPP Legislator Wei Ming-ku (魏明谷), Hsu said.
At a campaign strategy committee meeting yesterday, participants discussed the five remaining constituencies where the party has yet to announce candidates. They are Hsinchu City, Hsinchu County, Hualien County, Kinmen County and Lienchiang County.
The committee will make a final decision on whether to nominate candidates in Kinmen, Lienchiang and Hualien counties — arguably the party’s weakest constituencies — and in the predominantly Hakka constituency of Hsinchu County, as well as Hsinchu City at a committee meeting next week.
Hsu confirmed that former Hsinchu mayor Tsai Jen-chien (蔡仁堅) is interested in running for mayor again.
Alain Robert, known as the "French Spider-Man," praised Alex Honnold as exceptionally well-prepared after the US climber completed a free solo ascent of Taipei 101 yesterday. Robert said Honnold's ascent of the 508m-tall skyscraper in just more than one-and-a-half hours without using safety ropes or equipment was a remarkable achievement. "This is my life," he said in an interview conducted in French, adding that he liked the feeling of being "on the edge of danger." The 63-year-old Frenchman climbed Taipei 101 using ropes in December 2004, taking about four hours to reach the top. On a one-to-10 scale of difficulty, Robert said Taipei 101
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