Politicians and supporters rallied Saturday ahead of a by-election in Taichung and a vote on recalling independent Taipei lawmaker Freddy Lim (???) set for Sunday, hoping to drum up support for their sides' chances.
At a rally held in Taichung, President Tsai Ing-wen (???), who also chairs the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), urged voters in Taichung's second electoral district to back obstetrician and former Legislator-at-large Lin Ching-yi (???) in Sunday's by-election.
Lin is running for the position left vacant after former lawmaker Chen Po-wei (???) of the Taiwan Statebuilding Party (TSP) was removed from the Legislature in a recall election last October.
Lin has made every effort to take care of her patients and serve the public, Tsai said, contending that the 47-year-old candidate would push for local reform and bring change to Taichung.
Lin said she had delivered more than 7,000 babies and treated numerous patients during her two decades as an obstetrician, and pledged to be as dedicated to her constituents if elected.
The former DPP legislator is facing Yen Kuan-heng (???), a former Kuomintang (KMT) lawmaker and the scion of a local political dynasty, as well as three other candidates on Sunday's by-election.
Yen, 44, was elected in 2013 to the Legislature in a by-election in the same constituency to replace his father Yen Ching-piao (???), who was sentenced to prison in November 2012 and expelled from the Legislature.
Yen Kuan-heng won a second term in the 2016 legislative elections, but his bid for another term four years later failed after being defeated by Chen, who had the DPP's backing, by about 3 percentage points.
Running again for the seat he lost to Chen in 2020, Yen said at a separate rally that he continued to serve the public in the second electoral district over the past two years despite not being a lawmaker.
He accused the DPP of using intensive smear tactics to discredit him and said that if elected, he would encourage local development initiatives that his predecessor had stalled.
Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen (???) said she supported Yen because of his contributions to the district.
She said when Yen's father Yen Ching-piao was a legislator in 2003, the two of them solicited NT$5 billion (US$180.81 million) in funding for an infrastructure project in Shalu District in 2003 aimed at helping solve the area's flooding problems.
The other three candidates competing for the position in Taichung's second electoral district, which covers the towns of Shalu, Longjing, Dadu, Wuri and Wufeng and has 295,985 eligible voters, are Lee Sheng-han (???), Chang Chiung-chun (???), Lin Chin-lien (???).
Meanwhile, campaigners seeking to recall rocker-turned-legislator Freddy Lim were joined by media personality Jaw Shaw-kong (???) and KMT members such as former Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-pin (???) at a rally in Taipei's Ximending shopping area.
Jaw criticized the DPP's major mobilization efforts in trying to win Taichung's by-election and undermine the efforts to recall Lim at a time when Taiwan has seen more COVID-19 cases due to the Omicron variant.
He urged voters in Wanhua District to cast their vote on Sunday to "recall Freddy" and "teach Tsai Ing-wen and the DPP a lesson."
The recall campaign was initiated by one of Lim's constituents Cheng Ta-ping (???), independent Taipei City Councilor Chung Hsiao-ping (???), and former opposition Kuomintang (KMT) spokesman Eric Huang (???).
The initiators said Lim should be recalled because he had failed in his duties as a representative of Wanhua District, which became the epicenter of a domestic COVID-19 outbreak that started at hostess teahouses there in May 2021.
At a separate gathering in Wanhua District, DPP politicians and lawmakers came to Lim's defense and called for a "no" vote on Sunday to reject the recall.
Vice President Lai Ching-te (???) said that since being elected to the Legislature in 2016, Lim has been named an "excellent legislator" six times by the nonpartisan Citizen Congress Watch, and he urged people to vote against the recall.
Lim accused the KMT of having campaigned for or backed the recall of politicians who were either independent or from small political parties, mentioning in particular the TSP's Chen and independent Kaohsiung City Councilor Huang Jie (??), who eventually survived the recall vote.
However, Chen, Huang as well as Lim have been strong backers of the ruling party.
Lim called on voters to use their votes on Sunday to stop what he described as the KMT's "malicious attacks" that have marred Taiwan's democratic system.
Under the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act, Lim will be recalled if at least 25 percent of eligible voters in his district vote in favor of it, and they outnumber those who vote against it.
According to the Taipei City Election Commission, there are 235,024 eligible voters in Sunday's vote, which means Lim will be ousted if votes in favor of his recall outnumber votes against it and surpass 58,756.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel