After the two televised debates and weeks of hard campaigning, Taipei City voters are beginning to grasp the election strategies of incumbent Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (
Indeed, from campaigning rallies, TV commercials, policy outlines to personal Web sites and campaign literature, it's easy to assess the campaign styles and strategies adopted by both candidates as they vie for the job of "Taipei city mayor" in the Dec. 7 election.
One obvious similarity shared by both camps is the use of popular culture to appeal to voters, especially younger voters, in new ways.
Not only do both camps have their own Web sites, both Ma's and Lee's feature chat rooms and rich visual effects such as flash and phat-animated designs to attract visitor's attention.
Aside from regular text that features press releases, campaigning schedules, policies and ideas, Ma's Web site enables visitors to download his campaign songs as well as clips of his TV spots while Lee's allows visitors to play interactive games, view his TV spots on-line and his campaign rallies live on the Web.
"Through images, we hope the Web site will give visitors an understanding of Taipei's multi-faceted culture," King Pu-tsung (
To connect better with voters, both camps have adopted informal strategies such as setting up outdoor coffee shops for the public to enjoy while staging small gatherings at the shops. Ma's camp has organized some diners where professional musicians play for the audience. Lee's campaign has held vision presentations and a Pala Pala dance at his coffee shop.
"Through these kinds of small, informal gatherings, we hope to strengthen interaction with the public and make politics more real and digestible to them while introducing our candidate's vision of Taipei," said Peng Tien-haw (
Both candidates are attempting to woo support and votes from the city's Hakka minority as both candidates make frequent appearances at Hakka events and have outlined policies on the preservation of Hakka culture and language in their campaign pledges.
But there the similarities end.
Lee's campaign rallies have all the trappings of a rock concert, with air horns blaring and people screaming dong suan -- meaning "get elected" in Taiwanese -- while Ma opts for non-conventional rallies, which feature folk, Hakka and other forms of music before he makes his appearance.
"We [DPP] are skilled at conducting conventional campaign rallies," Peng told the Taipei Times.
"In order to boost Lee's candidacy in a given period of time, as his face is relatively new to Taipei residents, we've chosen to stage this kind of campaign rally, which is a great way to centralize support and enhance the candidate's confidence and popularity," Peng said.
Wu An-wen (
"It has been [Mayor] Ma's wish to give Taipei residents an elegant kind of campaign setting where the emotions of the crowd will stay rational," Wu said.
It's hard to miss the political heavyweights and influential people stumping for Lee's candidacy.
Notable public figures such as President Chen Shui-bian (
"Some [pundits and Lee's supporters] have expressed uncertainty that we played the so-called `presidential card' too soon," Peng said, referring to the early and frequent exposure of Chen at Lee's campaign activities.
"However, we thought the move was needed to boost Lee's popularity among the Taipei public."
"President Chen's stumping for Lee will consolidate Lee's supporters," Peng said.
Peng added that former president Lee Teng-hui would most likely be stumping for Lee as well in the final week before the Dec. 7 election.
But Ma has, for the most part, avoided appearing with political heavyweights such as party chairman Lien Chan (連戰) and Legislative Yuan speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) at his weekly campaign rallies.
"Due to the nature of the [non-conventional] approach we are taking with regard to staging campaigning rallies, these musical feast-like settings are not appropriate for political figures, that's why it might seem as if the political figures such as Lien and others have not been appearing at Ma's rallies," Wu told the Taipei Times.
"They [political heavyweights] do drum up support for Ma by showing up at other campaign activities such as the inauguration of Ma's numerous support teams," Wu said.
PFP spokesman Hsieh Kung-ping (
Seeking reelection, Ma's campaign slogan is "My future is not a dream" (我的未來不是夢); while Lee's slogan is "In Taipei" (讓台北IN起來), using words that play on the sound of his own name "Ying," pledged to develop Taipei into a strong city that is international, inclusive, innovative and intelligent.
While the election is, by nature, full of contingencies, the effectiveness of both camps' strategic campaigning will not be known until the votes are cast on Dec. 7th.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS