Mayoral candidates for Taipei and Taoyuan in the Nov. 26 local elections scored the highest for youth welfare policies in a questionnaire, the non-governmental organizations that asked the questions said yesterday.
Among 54 mayoral and county councilor candidates who responded to questions about their plans to improve the welfare of children and teenagers, those from Taipei and Taoyuan scored more than 80 points out of 110, the groups said.
The nationwide average score was 62, with half of the respondents scoring below 60, the Children’s Rights Alliance Taiwan, and the Taiwan Alliance for Advancement of Youth Rights and Welfare said.
Keelung mayoral candidate Chen Wei-chung (陳薇仲) of the New Power Party (NPP) scored the highest with 94.89, children’s rights alliance chairwoman Lin Yue-chin (林月琴) told a news conference.
Four of the 10 highest-scoring candidates were from Taipei and Taoyuan: Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and independent Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) in Taipei; and Cheng Yun-peng (鄭運鵬) of the DPP and Lai Hsiang-ling (賴香伶) of the Taiwan People’s Party in Taoyuan.
Lin praised the candidates for proposing innovative policies.
Chen Shih-chung, who ranked third with an overall score of 93.67, has highlighted online sexual violence and media literacy, which shows his grasp of the challenges facing young people in the digital age, Lin said.
Chen Wei-chung has a comprehensive policy platform dedicated to youth welfare, including proposals to improve working conditions and establish an office handling related issues, Lin added.
The groups evaluated the candidates’ youth policies based on such criteria as education, job opportunities, recreation, talent development and political participation.
Candidates in Tainan as well as Yilan, Hualien, Hsinchu, Miaoli, Changhua, Chiayi and Yunlin counties scored the lowest, Lin said, without naming them.
Most candidates in those locales did not offer long-term plans for youth development, instead focusing mostly on childcare policies and subsidies, Lin said.
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