New Taipei City Mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) inaugurated his re-election campaign headquarters in Banciao (板橋) on Saturday, after which he held his first large-scale rally at the Sinjhuang District Sports Center.
KMT legislater Lin Hung-chih (林鴻池), former KMT vice chairman Lin Feng-cheng (林豐正), former Taipei County Commissioner Chou Hsi-wei (周錫瑋), former National Assembly speaker Chen Ching-jang (陳金讓) and Deputy Legislative Speaker Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) attended the ceremony in Banciao.
At the rally, Chu shared the stage with KMT candidates running for the New Taipei City Council.
The event differed from traditional rallies because Chu’s campaign office invited members from different societal groups, such as organic farmers, foreign spouses, elderly residents, entrepreneurial youths, owners of restaurants and bus drivers, to share their views on how the city government’s policies affected their livelihoods and experiences in the city.
Chu’s campaign office said that instead of employing the established ways of mobilizing the municipality’s workforce, the mayor chose to ask others to share their views on how effective, or ineffective, his government’s policies have been.
“This highlighted the fact that the residents of New Taipei City are the people who matter most [to Chu’s administration],” the office said.
Chu was dressed casually for the rally, where he gave a speech enumerating his achievements, such as building public daycares for children and centers for elderly care.
Chu also vowed to continue trying his best to be a mayor who gets things done and let New Taipei City stand out among the nation’s five special municipalities.
The New Taipei City mayor delivered his speech in front of a giant screen, a setup that lead some to remark that the event seemed more like a presentation for a new Apple product than a political rally.
When asked why President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) was not there to stump for him, Chu said he wanted to wage a different kind of electoral campaign. However, he did not elaborate.
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