Turning now to Keelung City, where a five-way race for mayor is shaping up. The main contenders are the KMT’s George Hsieh and the DPP’s Tsai Shih-ying, who are neck-and-neck in the latest polling. Two other mayoral hopefuls are small-party candidate Chen Wei-chung and local political heavyweight Franco Huang, who’s formerly of the KMT. In the coming few months, a fifth candidate is expected to enter the mix, bringing more uncertainty to a closely contested race.

Keelung mayoral candidate Tsai Shih-ying, who’s representing the DPP, cooks up a storm at a charity event.

He rolls up his sleeves to assemble free meals. On Monday, Tsai stopped by a Keelung temple to serve more than a hundred older adults who live on their own.

Tsai Shih-ying
Keelung mayoral candidate (DPP)
Today my job was to help with sorting, washing, and stir-frying. Then we packed the food into lunchboxes and gave them to people in need.

Tsai is campaigning in Keelung, with an eye on extending the DPP’s hold on the city. He’s up against the KMT’s George Hsieh, a former legislator with considerable local influence. The contest is set to be tight. In a poll by Shih Hsin University, Hsieh had 27.8% of the vote while Tsai had 25.2%. The poll showed Hsieh slightly ahead but within the margin of error.

George Hsieh
Keelung mayoral candidate (KMT)
We saw that supporters of Mayor Lin Yu-chang did not transfer their support. And that’s to be expected. Why? Because Keelung is still slightly more blue than green. In the four-in-one referendums, the blue camp won on all four issues in Keelung by 16,000 votes.

Hsieh was confident in his chances in the election. But all signs are pointing to a highly volatile race.

Besides Tsai and Hsieh, there’s independent candidate Franco Huang, who had led the KMT’s Keelung chapter but quit the party more than a year ago. There’s also Chen Wei-chung, who was nominated by the New Power Party. In addition, Taiwan People''s Party Legislator Chiu Chen-yuan has been tipped to run for mayor. In the coming few months, Keelung could become a five-way race.