Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) Saturday secured a second term in office after beating his main challenger, former Kuomintang (KMT) legislator Ko Chih-en (柯志恩).
Chen, of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), was the clear front runner from early on in the vote count, which began at 4 p.m. He declared victory at around 7:40 p.m. after Ko conceded defeat.
Chen finished with 766,147 votes, or 58.1 percent of the total, with Ko receiving 529,607 votes, or 40.16 percent, according to figures from the Central Election Commission (CEC).
Independent candidates Tseng Yin-li (曾尹儷) and Cheng Yu-hsiang (鄭宇翔) received 14,585 votes, or 1.11 percent, and 8,394 votes, or 0.64 percent, respectively.
Chen was cheered by supporters as he took to the stage at his campaign headquarters in Kaohsiung’s Fengshan District (鳳山) at around 7:40 p.m.
“After a fierce competition it is now time for unity,” Chen said.
Although he and Ko have their differences, they also share the same desire to bring about change in Kaohsiung, Chen said, thanking Ko for fighting a “clean” election campaign.
Chen went on to say that he would be open to considering proposals put forward by his campaign opponents in future policymaking.
The outcome was largely in line with expectations, as Chen was consistently shown to have a commanding lead in polls leading up to the election.
Chen, 57, ran on a platform that focused on creating job opportunities and boosting the municipality’s industries, including an initiative to build a “semiconductor corridor” industrial cluster and facilitate industry-academia collaboration in the semiconductor sector.
He also pledged to build a technology park for 5G and Internet of Things (IoT) innovation in Kaohsiung’s central business district, the Asia New Bay Area, to attract more technology companies to establish headquarters there.
Chen suffered a bruising defeat in the 2018 Kaohsiung mayoral race at the hands of the KMT’s Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), who managed a surprise victory in the traditional DPP stronghold.
However, Han’s mayoralty was short-lived, when he was ousted in June 2020 following an unprecedented impeachment vote just under 18 months into his mayoralty after his decision to represent the KMT in the 2020 presidential election was widely criticized.
Han’s impeachment offered Chen a chance for a comeback in a by-election held in August the same year, after the DPP re-nominated Chen to run for the office.
Chen won the by-election with 671,804 votes, defeating KMT Kaohsiung City Councilor Lee Mei-jhen (李眉蓁), who received 248,478 votes, and Kaohsiung City Councilor Wu Yi-jheng, representing the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), who received 38,960 votes.
Since his inauguration in August 2020, Chen has built several social housing complexes and sports centers in the municipality and paved the way for Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) to build a wafer foundry in Kaohsiung Nanzih Technology Industrial Park.
He also took sweeping steps to expand the MRT network in the municipality, starting work on the Kaohsiung MRT Yellow Line and resuming phase two construction of the Kaohsiung Light Rail after rerouting the line, which had been suspended by Han over environmental concerns.
Compared to some magistrate and mayoral candidates who faced allegations of graft and academic plagiarism, Chen ran a relatively non-contentious campaign.
Chen’s political career took off when he was elected a lawmaker for Kaohsiung City in 1995, the first time he ran for the position. During his second legislative term, he was appointed minister without portfolio and Cabinet spokesman by then-Premier You Si-kun (游錫堃).
He was appointed acting mayor of Kaohsiung in 2005 by then-mayor Frank Hsieh (謝長廷), when Hsieh was made premier by then-President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁).
Chen Chi-mai resigned as acting Kaohsiung mayor in August 2005 after Thai migrant workers hired by Kaohsiung Rapid Transit Corp. held mass protests over poor management of the workers, who reportedly lived in appalling conditions and were financially exploited.
He later served briefly as Presidential Office deputy secretary-general before becoming a DPP lawmaker again in 2012, remaining in that post until Nov. 2018 when he stepped down to focus on the mayoral campaign in Kaohsiung.
After his election defeat, Chen was appointed vice premier by President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) in Jan. 2019 after former premier Lai Ching-te’s (賴清德) Cabinet resigned en mass to shoulder responsibility for the DPP’s rout in the 2018 local elections.
Following Han’s impeachment in June, 2020, Chen Chi-mai resigned as vice premier and threw his hat in the Kaohsiung mayoral by-election ring, with his nomination backed by the DPP Central Standing Committee. He won the by-election in August that year.
KMT’s Ko Chih-en, 60, was unable to dent Chen Chi-mai’s popularity even though she stumped across the municipality and put up a strong showing during a televised platform presentation on Nov. 12.
A professor of psychology at Tamkang University and former TV show host, Ko, who served as a KMT lawmaker from 2016 to 2020, had vowed to listen carefully to the needs of the city’s 2.72 million residents and work determinedly toward Kaohsiung’s “change, rebirth, and prosperity.”
Chen Chi-mai’s emphatic victory on Saturday is widely expected to cement his status as a rising political star in the DPP and is sure to spark keen interest as to his next career move.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel