Wednesday, November 17, 2010

DPP expects easy win in Tainan mayoral election

The mayoral election in the southern city of Tainan has been given less attention in the media than the other four municipal races because it is seen as a shoo-in for the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

As the Nov. 27 poll approaches, the party is expecting an easy victory unless something crazy happens, like a comet hitting the Earth, DPP Secretary-General and national campaign manager Wu Nai-jen has said publicly.

Opinion polls show that is not just an empty boast. The DPP mayoral candidate in Tainan Lai Ching-te has been leading Kuo Tien-tsai of the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) by substantial margins since May.

Despite KMT Secretary-General King Pu-tsung's assessment on Nov. 12 that Kuo has been gaining momentum in the past few weeks, Kuo's chances of pulling off a upset win appear to be slim.

Unlike the situation on the national level, the DPP is not exactly an opposition party in the new Tainan City -- a merger of Tainan City and Tainan County. The area, with a combined population of more than 2.7 million, has long been aDPP stronghold.

Tainan County, which is heavily populated by farmers and fishermen, has been held by the DPP since 1993 and Tainan City since 1997.

In 2004, when the DPP's Chen Shui-bian, a native of Tainan County, was seeking reelection as president, he gained 64.8 percent of the votes in his home county and 57.8 percent in Tainan City.

Although by 2008 the DPP's popularity had plummeted due to corruption charges against Chen, the party's support in the region remained strong. The DPP lost the presidential election that year, but its showing in Tainan County was 56.2 percent and in Tainan City 49.3 percent.

It is this kind of unwavering support that Lai, a 51-year-old medical doctor who has served as a legislator representing Tainan City since 1999, is counting on this November.

His campaign got off to a shaky start earlier this year after he defeated the five other candidates in the DPP primary -- former Tainan County Magistrate Tan Sun Chen, legislators Lee Chun-yee and Yeh Yi-jin, and incumbents Tainan City Mayor Hsu Tain-tsair and Tainan County Magistrate Su Huan-chih.

After Hsu lost the primary, he was reportedly considering running as an independent, which could have destroyed Lai's chances of winning the seat.

In the opposing camp, Kuo, a native of Tainan, has tried to gain points by claiming that he knows the region better than Lai, who is from Taipei. Kuo called attention to the efforts he had been making to close the education and economic gap between Tainan County and northern areas of the country, drawing on his experience as a former educator.

However, Hsu and Su later both pledged full support for Lai, who promised to continue the policies of the incumbents and develop a new metropolis based on its rich history and potential for innovation.

Tainan, which means "southern Taiwan" in Chinese, takes pride in the fact that it was the first settlement established by the Dutch when they colonized Taiwan from 1624-1662.

Later, troops led by Chinese military strategist Koxinga first landed in Tainan in a successful assault against the Dutch to take over Taiwan. A large percentage of Tainan's income is generated from tourism that is centered on visits to the historical sites around the city.

Tainan County lies in the southern half of the Chianan Plain, the largest piece of flat land in Taiwan on which rice and other grains are grown. The livelihood of the county's residents is heavily dependent on agricultural development.

With these issues at the forefront, the people of Tainan will decide on Nov. 27 whether or not something crazy should be allowed to happen. By Chris Wang, CNA Staff Reporter Enditem/pc