The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) are campaigning to grab more Taipei legislative seats in the Jan. 11 elections, but smaller parties joining the race are complicating their plans.
The KMT holds five out of eight legislative districts, while the DPP holds two and a DPP-leaning lawmaker holds another.
Asked about the party’s hoped-for outcome in the legislative elections, a DPP source said it expects to win three seats.
A KMT source said the KMT believes it will keep its five seats, and possibly win two or three more.
Historically, Taipei has been a KMT stronghold.
Of the city’s eight electoral districts, only the first constituency — Beitou District (北投) and 13 boroughs in Shilin District (士林) — and the second constituency — Datong District (大同) and 38 boroughs in Shilin District — are considered to be pro-DPP, based on past elections.
This election is more unpredictable due to the formation in August of the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) by Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), as well as the involvement of smaller parties and independent candidates.
Many expected the mayor to make a bid for the presidency until his September announcement that he would not throw his hat into the race.
Instead, Ko established the TPP and nominated four legislative candidates in the Taipei race.
Among the four nominees, independent Taipei City Councilor Hsu Li-hsin (徐立信), who is running in the fifth constituency — Wanhua (萬華) and Zhongzheng (中正) districts — is believed to have a chance of winning in a three-way race with independent Legislator Freddy Lim (林昶佐) and former four-term legislator Lin Yu-fang (林郁方) of the KMT.
Lim, who quit the NPP in August due to differences with party leadership, is being backed by the DPP.
Lin, a veteran defense and foreign affairs expert, aims to return to the Legislative Yuan, where he served as a lawmaker from 2002 to 2016, before losing the seat to Lim in the 2016 elections.
The city’s constituencies all have more than two candidates, except for in the fourth constituency — Neihu (內湖) and Nangang (南港) districts — where only DPP and KMT candidates are going toe-to-toe.
According to the DPP and KMT sources, as Taipei’s political landscape changes, the parties aim to hold onto their supporters as best they can and to cautiously welcome the challenge posed by new political voices.
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