A controversy has erupted in the New Taipei City mayoral race, with KMT candidate Li Si-chuan accused of exaggerating his role in the reconstruction that followed the 921 earthquake — a charge that works against his campaign.

• Li originally wrote on Facebook that he was serving in Taipei County in the year of the 921 earthquake, but he in fact did not take up a post in Taipei County until 2007, more than seven years after the quake.
• After media reports appeared, his team quietly changed the post to read "the year reconstruction began after the 921 earthquake."
• DPP New Taipei City councillor Weng Chen-chou pointed out that reconstruction in the collapse of the "Scholar's Home" building in Xinzhuang was launched in 2002 and completed in 2004, during Su Tseng-chang's term, and had nothing to do with Li.
• The first sentence of the revised post still reads "someone has kept count for me for 27 years," a figure still calculated from 1999, contradicting the rest of the text.
• Weng criticised the move as an attempt, amid a faltering campaign, to hastily claim the achievements of successive county and city mayors as his own, drawing a comparison with the earlier "Tamsui grandma" controversy.

Outlook: With the race entering its most heated phase, Li's personal record and claims about his achievements are expected to continue being scrutinised point by point by his opponents.