Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday questioned why opinion polls are asking questions about support for him in the 2020 presidential election when he has never voiced a desire to run for the job.
After attending a handover ceremony for municipal school principals, Ko was asked by reporters about an opinion poll released on Tuesday that found nearly 40 percent of respondents supported Ko in running for presidency in 2020.
“This is interesting. I have never said I am going to run for president, so why are you asking that in the opinion poll?” Ko said.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
The poll indicated that his support rate could be higher than President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) if he challenged her re-election bid, although 51.6 percent of respondents were against him running for president, and 54.9 percent of residents in Taipei, New Taipei City and Keelung opposed the idea.
As for the Nov. 24 elections, Ko has a significant lead (64.4 percent) in supportive rate against his Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) rivals, Ting Shou-chung (丁守中) and Legislator Pasuya Yao (姚文智) respectively, the poll found.
Taipei residents are often least optimistic about him winning re-election when compared with the rest of the nation, but it might be because of “the beauty of distance,” he said, citing the lack of roadside parking fees outside of Taipei.
“It is interesting that the lowest support rate nationwide I get is in Taipei,” Ko said.
In his speech at the ceremony, Ko said that if he is re-elected, pushing forward with full-scale digitalization in education would be very important, as only by bridging the digital divide can students from lower socioeconomic levels have an opportunity to learn and compete with others.
Ko said he wanted to expand the scope of bilingual education in Taipei, and he pledged to continue funding for cultural exchanges to boost Taipei’s and Taiwan’s global presence by subsidizing overseas visits for students and teachers, encouraging students from other nations to visit Taipei and holding international events.
It took director Chong Keat Aun (張吉安) nearly a decade to complete Snow in Midsummer (五月雪), a deft chronicle of Malaysia’s May 13 incident told through one woman’s search for her brother and father. Although only his second feature, it led the field at yesterday’s Golden Horse Awards with nine nominations. Chong said it had been a struggle to get people to share their memories of the intercommunal violence following the 1969 national election, known among the country’s ethnic Chinese community as “513.” “My father, for example, would shut the conversation down if my mother or grandma even mentioned the topic,” Chong said
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday said that a surge in respiratory illnesses in China has been caused by at least seven types of pathogens, and small children, elderly people and immunocompromised people should temporarily avoid unnecessary visits to China. The recent outbreak of respiratory illnesses in China is mainly in the north and among children, CDC Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said on Monday. Data released by the Chinese National Health Commission on Sunday showed that among children aged one to four, the main pathogens were influenza viruses and rhinoviruses, while among children aged five to 14, the main pathogens
A new poll of Taiwanese voters found the top opposition candidate for president jumping past the ruling party’s hopeful into the lead position ahead of January’s election — the latest twist in a drama-filled race. Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) presidential candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) had an approval rating of 31.9 percent versus 29.2 percent for the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) presidential candidate Vice President William Lai (賴清德), the poll released yesterday by the Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation showed. The Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) presidential candidate, New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜), ranked third with 23.6 percent, according to the survey conducted
A New Taipei City hotpot restaurant could be fined after a rat dropped from the ceiling and landed on a customer’s plate last week, the New Taipei City Department of Health said yesterday after conducting an inspection. A woman recently posted on the “I am a Banciao resident” (我是板橋人) social media group saying that she had been eating with a friend at Chien Tu Shabu Shabu Hotpot Restaurant’s Shuangshi B branch in Banciao District (板橋). “While still eating, a big rat suddenly dropped down from the ceiling, landing on a plate next to a hotpot,” she said. “Later on, a member of
RSS