Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Wang Ding-yu (王定宇) yesterday announced his intention to run in the DPP primary to seek the party’s nomination for the Tainan mayoral election next year.
The first-time legislator announced his candidacy in Tainan with the endorsement of former Tainan county commissioner Mark Chen (陳唐山).
“Tainan has to face the effects of a new wave of globalization and competition from other special municipalities, and it has to solve the problem of resource distribution to prevent an increased urban-rural divide,” Wang said.
Photo: CNA
He said he has heard many complaints from residents in former Tainan County areas about unequal resource distribution following the merger of Tainan City and Tainan County in 2010.
Residents in districts north of the Zengwen River (曾文溪) particularly feel the pain of being marginalized, he said.
“Residents of Tainan City and the former Tainan County areas should have equal access to resources,” Wang said. “I will be a mayor who cares about residents rather than re-election.”
Tainan Mayor William Lai (賴清德) has improved the city’s finances and flood preparedness, Wang said, adding that he will focus on infrastructure if elected.
DPP legislators Huang Wei-cher (黃偉哲), Chen Ting-fei (陳亭妃) and Yeh Yi-jin (葉宜津), former Tainan deputy mayor Yen Chun-tso (顏純左) and former DPP deputy secretary-general Lee Chun-yi (李俊毅) have also declared their intentions to join the party primary, with DPP Legislator Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲) also expected to join.
Wang said he had a slow start in the primary election and campaign billboards were set up only five days ago, adding that an opinion poll would be conducted next month to find out his chances against other candidates.
An opinion poll released last month by Chinese-language news site my-Formosa.com ranked Huang as the most popular candidate with an approval rating of 44.5 percent, followed by Chen Ting-fei at 29 percent, Wang at 28.9 percent, Yen at 25.7 percent, Yeh at 23.6 percent and Lee at 14.7 percent.
Meanwhile, Yen, who resigned from his position as Tainan deputy mayor in January to enter the election, yesterday criticized Wang for seeking party nomination while serving as lawmaker.
Citing an opinion poll conducted by an unidentified polling agency, Yen said 63.5 percent of the respondents said legislators seeking mayoral nomination should resign.
Lawmakers were elected only in January last year, but some of them are seeking to join the mayoral elections next year amid increasing challenges faced by President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration as it pushes for reforms, and the public expects the legislators to stay in their posts to support the administration, Yen said.
Mark Chen, a former minister of foreign affairs, said former US president Barack Obama in 2008 entered the US presidential election while serving as a US senator, so Wang should be a worthy mayoral candidate, despite being a lawmaker.
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