Former labor minister declares bid for DPP's Kaohsiung mayor candidacy

Kaohsiung, Aug. 20 (CNA) Former Labor Minister Hsu Ming-chun (許銘春) announced on Tuesday her intention to represent the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in the Kaohsiung mayoral election scheduled for 2026, becoming the fifth member of the party to join the primary race.

Hsu announced her decision to vie for the mayoral candidacy of the biggest city in southern Taiwan during a visit to the Kaohsiung transportation general labor union.

"I'm joining the DPP's primary election for Kaohsiung mayoral candidate. I will strive for the party's support and the recognition of [Kaohsiung] citizens," the former Kaohsiung deputy mayor said.

Hsu, who served as the southern port city's deputy mayor between 2016 and 2018, is the fifth member of the ruling party to declare a bid for its primary election, even though the current term of incumbent Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) still has not yet reached the halfway point.

The announcement saw Hsu follow in the footsteps of DPP lawmakers Lin Dai-hua (林岱樺), Lai Jui-lung (賴瑞隆), Chiu Yi-ying (邱議瑩) and Hsu Chih-chieh (許智傑), all of whom expressed earlier this year their intention to stand in the primary election.

The DPP's approach is different from that of the main opposition Kuomintang (KMT), for which Legislator Ko Chih-en (柯志恩) is widely regarded as its most likely -- and perhaps the only -- candidate in the 2026 election.

Ko, who earned nearly 530,000 votes in 2022, failed to unseat Chen, who obtained 766,147 ballots.

While all the DPP candidates emphasized the importance of unity in a peaceful race, their opinions diverged regarding the optimal date for holding the primary election.

Similar to Lai, who is also a protégé of former Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊), Hsu Ming-chun said on Tuesday that she will "respect the party's arrangement."

However, following Hsu Ming-chun's declaration, Hsu Chih-chieh urged the DPP to hold the primary six months earlier than scheduled to prevent the party's supporters from worrying, local media reported.

Lin highlighted the importance of meeting voters' expectations regardless of the timing, while Chiu said she believes it is still "way too early" to discuss the matter given how much time remains in Chen's term, according to the reports.

Kaohsiung, the third-largest special municipality in Taiwan in terms of population, has long been a DPP stronghold after Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) was elected mayor in 1998.

In addition to Yang Ming-chou (楊明州), who served for two months as acting mayor in 2020, the only non-DPP mayor to govern Kaohsiung since 1998 was the incumbent Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) of the KMT. In June 2020, Han became the first mayor in Taiwan's history to be recalled by popular vote.