KMT announces raft of nominees for southern Taiwan local elections

Taipei, Dec. 24 (CNA) Taiwan's main opposition Kuomintang (KMT) on Wednesday announced its candidates for the 2026 mayoral and county magistrate elections in Tainan, Kaohsiung, Pingtung and Taitung.

At a meeting of its Central Standing Committee, the KMT formally approved the selection of Legislator Ko Chih-en (柯志恩) in Kaohsiung and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) in Tainan.

Ko and Hsieh previously ran and lost to incumbent Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) mayors in their respective cities, both DPP strongholds, in 2022, but will face new, yet-to-be-announced challengers in 2026.

The KMT also approved the nomination of Legislator Su Ching-chuan (蘇清泉) to run against incumbent DPP Magistrate Chou Chun-mi (周春米) in Pingtung County.

In Taitung, where the incumbent KMT magistrate will leave office after two terms, the party nominated county council speaker Wu Hsiu-hua (吳秀華) to compete against legislator and DPP nominee Chen Ying (陳瑩).

At the meeting, KMT Chairperson Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) announced Wang Jin-ping (王金平), who served as Legislative speaker from 1999-2016, has been appointed as the party's chief advisor.

Taiwan's next local elections are scheduled to take place on Nov. 28, 2026.