Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said he would take leave from his administrative post from Nov. 8 to focus on his re-election campaign.
Ko was responding to a question asked by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) City Councilor Chen Yung-te (陳永德) at the Taipei City Council on Tuesday afternoon.
Ko said his absence would meet regulations, and that the three deputy mayors — Teng Chia-chi (鄧家基), Charles Lin (林欽榮) and Chen Chin-jun (陳景峻) — and Taipei Department of Civil Affairs Commissioner Lan Shih-tsung (藍世聰) would not be taking leave at the same time.
Under the Civil Service Administrative Neutrality Act (公務人員行政中立法), civil servants who have registered to become a candidate are allowed to apply for personal leave or annual leave from the day that the candidates’ list is announced, which for special municipality mayoral candidates is on Nov. 8.
Asked by Chen Yung-te whether one month would be enough to prepare for the election, Ko said it would be, but he is focused on properly fulfilling his administrative duties at the moment.
Ko this week presented a policy to offer more than 50,000 part-time jobs to help retired civil servants whose pensions have been cut, and yesterday visited a dormitory for single military veteran to hand out Mid-Autumn Festival gifts.
Some people questioned whether he was trying to win votes from pan-blue supporters, as the majority of civil servants and military personnel are thought to belong to that camp.
“These veterans are also city residents, so as Taipei mayor, my duty is to provide services to city residents, no matter whether they support the pan-blue or the pan-green camp,” Ko said.
Asked whether retired civil servants would have an advantage over other applicants when applying for the part-time jobs, Ko said that the city government would list the job offers on an online platform available to everyone.
Retired civil servants who have experience in similar positions might have more of an advantage, Ko said, adding that part-time jobs are more suitable for retired people and that full-time jobs are more suited to young people.
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