New Taipei Mayoral Race: Lee Shih-chuan's Camp Says Su Chiao-hui Trails in Polls
With the New Taipei mayoral race entering its final 100 days, the Kuomintang camp claims a lead while the Democratic Progressive Party stresses grassroots support, leaving the outlook currently unfavourable for Su Chiao-hui.
- Lee Shih-chuan's campaign office says Su Chiao-hui is "consistently behind," with a polling gap of 6 to 7 percentage points.
- The KMT camp says Su Chiao-hui has been too slow to unify the party's factions, and that even bringing in Tsai Ing-wen as chair of her campaign headquarters leaves her fighting alone.
- Su Chiao-hui has responded with support groups drawn from a range of industries and professions, emphasising a decade of accumulated achievements and cross-sector backing.
- Lai Ching-te's announcement of a NT$10,000 universal cash handout next year has become a focus of the race, with Chiang Wan-an calling for it to be raised to NT$20,000.
- Chen Chi-mai criticised the bidding war over the amount as pointless, arguing instead for amending the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures to address the uneven distribution of local funding.
Outlook: The universal cash handout and the battle over the general budget will become the main themes of the local elections, with New Taipei remaining a key battleground between the KMT and the DPP.