Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je’s (柯文哲) team yesterday interviewed 42 shortlisted candidates who applied to work for Ko’s re-election campaign ahead of the Nov. 24 Taipei mayoral election.
The candidates were selected from 1,839 applicants who responded to an open call by Ko’s team and were interviewed in groups and individually yesterday.
The team initially received about 900 applications, but that number increased to 1,839 after the team released an online short film titled A Day in the Life of the Mayor’s Aide on Thursday last week, Ko campaign office employee Ke Yu-an (柯昱安) said.
Photo: CNA
Ke attributed the increase in the number of applicants to the film, saying it induced more people to identify with the mayor’s ideals.
Ko, an independent, has said that he took a NT$20 million (US$655,000) mortgage on his house as collateral for his campaign fund and that he would not cap the number of campaign office employees as long as the fund could pay their salaries.
An interviewee surnamed Yeh (葉), who is a travel writer, said he applied for a job managing Ko’s social media because he shared the mayor’s visions.
“Ko is a down-to-earth politician who would not let nepotism interfere with his decisionmaking,” Yeh said. “He takes a scientific approach when making policy — he looks at numbers.”
Chen Yu-an (陳俞安), a media worker, said that she applied for the position of campaign office spokesperson.
It is important to reinvent politics and the media, Chen said, adding that Ko’s team seemed vibrant and less concerned with formalities, which fits her personality.
Ko yesterday reiterated that there are no rules to the application process.
The hiring is being conducted in line with his ideals of establishing an open government that allows greater public participation, he said.
Ko said he has always viewed elections as social campaigns to change the culture of Taiwanese politics and would welcome applicants who contribute to society in different ways.
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