By Chris Wang / Staff Reporter, in Taoyuan County
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) is scheduled to complete her 11-day campaign trip along Taiwan’s west coast today with a large rally planned for this evening on Ketagalan Boulevard in front of the Presidential Office in Taipei.
The trip, which took Tsai from the southernmost tip of Taiwan en route to 79 townships in 14 counties covering a total distance of more than 500km, was aimed at generating voter support in the run-up to January’s presidential election.
DPP spokesperson Chuang Ruei-hsiung (莊瑞雄) said about 30,000 people are expected to attend the rally.
Having traveled through the three Hakka constituencies of Miaoli, Hsinchu and Taoyuan, Tsai’s motorcade is scheduled to enter Taipei via Taoyuan’s Gueishan (龜山) and Sinjhuang (新莊) and Sanchong (三重) of New Taipei City (新北市).
For the first time during the trip, the so-called “three Kings and one Queen” of the DPP heavyweights, including former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) and former premiers Yu Shyi-kun (游錫?), Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) and Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌), will appear on stage to endorse Tsai.
Despite the road trip being marred by a series of attacks against vice presidential candidate Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全) and his family over alleged illegal land use, Tsai described it as “fruitful.”
The party said it was considering additional trips along the east coast and in Hakka constituencies, but no final decision has been made.