ELECTION 2024/Presidential candidates ramp up campaigning as election day draws near

Taipei, Jan. 2 (CNA) Taiwan's presidential candidates and their parties launched a new round of campaign activities on Tuesday, as they look to win over voters in the final two weeks before election day on Jan. 13.

The main opposition Kuomintang (KMT) had its presidential nominee Hou Yu-ih (侯友宜) and his running mate Jaw Shau-kong (趙少康) take to the streets of New Taipei's Banqiao District and Taoyuan, respectively, Tuesday morning for a series of public meet and greets.

Around the same time, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) and his counterpart in Taichung Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) also appeared on the streets of their cities to campaign for the KMT presidential ticket and local legislative candidates.

Tuesday's activities were part of a new election push launched by the KMT, which will see local government leaders join forces with the opposition party's presidential ticket to campaign in a total of 1,139 locations around the country over the next two weeks, according to the KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫).

The goal, Chu told reporters as he was canvassing in Taipei's Shilin District, was to show the KMT's "determination to bring about a change in government" following almost eight years of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) rule.

The smaller opposition Taiwan People's Party (TPP), too, embarked on a new round of campaigning activities on Tuesday, featuring its presidential candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) and running mate Wu Hsin-ying (吳欣盈) traveling and canvassing countrywide in separate motorcades.

The campaign seeks to give greater public exposure to the TPP and "arouse enthusiasm among supporters" of the party, Ko told reporters before setting out with his motorcade in New Taipei's Xinzhuang District.

The nationwide campaign, which has already seen Wu travel to New Taipei's Tucheng and Shulin districts, will be live-streamed on social media, according to the TPP.

Similarly, the DPP is set to launch a new campaign on Wednesday morning, when the party's presidential candidate Lai Ching-te (賴清德) and running mate Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) will greet the public in the street of Taipei's Songshan District and New Taipei's Banqiao District, respectively.

According to the ruling party, the canvassing efforts by Lai and Hsiao are part of a final campaign push that will see DPP members make appearances at 1,000 locations across Taiwan's 22 cities and counties.

The DPP noted that this would be Lai's eighth island-wide tour since he entered the presidential race in April.

The aim is to mobilize supporters to go to the polling station and cast their ballots for the DPP's presidential ticket and party list on Jan. 13, according to the party.

Lai remains the front-runner in most polls, with the survey published by My-Formosa.com on Dec. 30 indicating that the DPP ticket received 40.2 percent of support, more than 10 percentage points ahead of the KMT, which had 28.7 percent of support.

However, the gap was much smaller in the TVBS poll published on Monday, which showed that the DPP ticket garnered 33 percent support while the KMT pairing had 30 percent support.

The two polls are part of the last to be released before election day, with Taiwan's election rules prohibiting the publication of polls after midnight on Jan. 2.