The streets of Taipei City were filled with campaign flags and deafening cheers from excited supporters yesterday as they flocked to campaign rallies held by the two leading mayoral candidates on the eve of the election.
Shouting “Victory for Mayor Hau” tens of thousands of supporters gathered on the Ketagalan Boulevard in front of the Presidential Office in support of Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).
Hau rounded off months of campaigning with a day-long motorcade and large rally on the final day which was attended by President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and other KMT heavyweights.
Dubbed “I Love My Home — Taipei City,” the campaign rally attracted more than 50,000 pan-blue supporters. Before the politicians appeared on stage, pop singers and traditional folk art groups, including Ming Hwa Yuan Taiwanese Opera, performed.
Not far away from the KMT rally, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei mayoral candidate Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) held his election-eve campaign rally at the corner of Beiping East Road and Shaoxing North Street.
More than 100,000 supporters waved campaign flags and sang the candidate’s campaign theme song Change at an event, entitled “100,000 Dreams and Feelings.”
The rally featured pro-independence bands and singers that had previously performed at small-scale concerts during Su’s campaign. Former DPP chairman Lin I-hsiung (林義雄), Ilan County Commissioner Lin Tsung-hsian (林聰賢) and Pingtung County Commissioner Tsao Chi-hung (曹啟鴻) also attended the rally to boost support for Su.
Earlier in the morning, Hau began his campaign activities in Shihlin District (士林), standing at MRT Jiantan Station waving to passerby and asking for their support.
He also visited a local market in Shihlin and later canvassed the streets in Datung (大同) and Zhongzheng (中正) districts.
Shrugging off Su’s accusations that the KMT had conducted a negative campaign against him, Hau said his camp made reasonable and rational challenges.
“Mr Su treated all the questions we raised as vicious attacks against him. What we did was challenge him over issues people are concerned about,” he said.
Su yesterday paid another visit to Baoan Temple where he blessed his mayoral bid in March. Accompanied by his wife, Su reiterated his promise to finish his term if elected.
“I pledged to join the election months ago, and I promised that I would finish my term and not run in the presidential election in 2012 if elected,” he said.
Su later visited a local temple in Wanhua District (萬華) to consolidate his support base in the traditional pan-green stronghold.
The breaking news yesterday evening that Sean Lien (連勝文), son of former KMT chairman Lien Chan (連戰), had been shot, stirred up the crowd attending Hau’s rally last night, many waving their campaign flags vigorously in support of Hau and denouncing violence.
Hau appeared on stage at about 9:12pm with his wife Kao Lang-shian (高閬仙). Looking very -serious, he described the shooting as the “most serious act of violence during this election campaign,” while urging all political parties not to use the incident to stir up confrontation.
“The act of serious violence that occurred tonight mars our democracy with shame,” Hau said as he fought to hold back tears.
The rally was cut short as Hau went directly to the hospital to pay his respects to the family of Sean Lien.
Earlier, the rally had opened with pounding drums and lion dances, followed by hip hop dancers and musical performances.
Su’s campaign rally felt more like a concert, with pop bands and singers taking turns to perform on stage. Those at the rally, including many young people, sang along with the music while waving campaign flags.
Both camps were concerned about the weather on election day, urging voters to come out and vote rain or shine.
In the mayoral election four years ago, overall voter turnout was 64.52 percent. Hau received 53.81 percent of the vote, while the DPP’s Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) got 40.89 percent.
The KMT is hoping to raise voter turnout to more than 70 percent. Su’s camp was also focusing its last-minute efforts on attracting swing voters.
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