Claire Wang accompanies six Taiwan Forward candidates registering their candidacies in Hsinchu County
Six candidates fielded by the New Power Party and Taiwan Forward have formally entered Hsinchu County's local elections, aiming to win every seat they contest and form a caucus in the county council to put oversight pressure on the current county government.
- The six have registered for county councillor, Zhubei City representative and Zhudong Township representative seats respectively; all of them must win in order to form a caucus.
- Their main line of attack is that County Magistrate Yang Wen-ke has made 17 overseas trips totalling 139 days during his term, drawing criticism that he has long been absent from his post.
- Illegal waste dumping, piled-up rubbish left unattended, and the years-long failure to designate drinking water protection zones are listed as the issues county residents feel most keenly.
- The candidates are each campaigning on their own themes: traffic congestion and insufficient educational capacity in Zhubei, pavements and illegal parking problems in Zhudong, and professional scrutiny of the budget review.
- Their policy platforms include elevating the Taiwan Railway's Zhubei station, a non-profit postpartum care centre, sewerage for unregistered factory areas, and the widening of Guangming Road.
Outlook: The campaign will centre on oversight of the county government's administration and on local infrastructure, with the key question being whether they can clear the seat threshold needed to form a caucus.