Former Taipei deputy mayor Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday announced she would run for Taipei mayor as an independent candidate in November, after resigning as deputy mayor on Saturday.
Huang made the announcement at a news conference in Taipei’s Neihu District (內湖). Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) and several Taipei City Government officials attended the event to show their support.
“Today is my last day as deputy mayor, and I will begin a new battle,” Huang said on Facebook on Saturday.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
Ko yesterday said Huang has never been late for morning meetings as deputy mayor, and that she has been earnest and strongly dedicated to her job, including when she was a city councilor for six terms.
Ko said he believes Huang would uphold his principles of honesty, integrity and hard work in city governance if she is elected mayor.
Diligence and fighting corruption are the new Taipei values, she said, adding that the city would be run transparently and fairly under her leadership.
Only Taipei is capable of choosing a path that breaks from partisan fighting between the pan-blue and pan-green camps, as demonstrated by electing Ko as mayor eight years ago, she said.
Huang was first elected as a New Party city councilor in 1998, but left the party in 2001 and became a People First Party member in 2002. After serving 21 years on the city council, she was tapped by Ko to become deputy mayor in 2019.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator and Taipei mayoral candidate Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) yesterday said he respects Huang’s decision to run for mayor, but suggested that she is courting KMT voters, saying that only he represents the “rightful blue army” of the Republic of China.
Additional reporting by CNA
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