Taiwanese parties ramp up campaigns with motorcades and social media blitz on eve of elections
- Polls may become referendum on DPP’s pro-independence president
- KMT makes effort to sell candidate in big mayoral race
Candidates made last-minute efforts to elicit support from voters on the eve of Taiwan’s midterm elections on Friday, the polls regarded as a test for President Tsai Ing-wen and her ability to run the island as tensions with Beijing increase.
The “nine-in-one” elections, staged every four years, will be held on Saturday to choose nine levels of officers, including municipal mayors, councillors, and county magistrates.
It is the first local election test for Tsai and the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party since she came to office in May 2016. Whether her party – or her opponents in the Beijing-friendly Kuomintang party – wins most of the posts will determine the island’s relations with Beijing for the next two years.
The latest rift between the mainland and Taiwan – at the prestigious Golden Horse film awards last Saturday – might help swing normally unaligned voters away from independents towards candidates from either the DPP or the KMT.
Ko Wen-je, Taipei’s independent mayor who is running for re-election, was nervous.
“We did not receive any support from either the DPP or the KMT, and we find it hard to win support, especially after the Golden Horse film awards incident that made voters to pay more attention to candidates’ ideology,” said Ko campaign aide Li Yuan, who said the candidate walked the middle way.