DPP, KMT take top meetings on road to boost local election campaigns

Taipei, Aug. 5 (CNA) Taiwan's ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and main opposition Kuomintang (KMT) held their weekly Central Standing Committee meetings in Taichung and Hsinchu County, respectively, on Wednesday as they sought to rally support for their candidates ahead of November's local elections.

With the elections less than four months away, the DPP on Wednesday held its traveling Central Standing Committee meeting in Taichung, a special municipality governed by two-term KMT Mayor Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕), who has held the post since 2018.

Legislator Ho Hsin-chun (何欣純), the DPP's Taichung mayoral candidate, presented her campaign platform at the meeting, focusing on an integrated public transit network, subsidies for childcare and seniors, and the development of the unmanned vehicle industry.

Speaking at the meeting, President and DPP Chairman Lai Ching-te (賴清德) criticized Lu's tenure at city hall over delays to the Taichung MRT Blue Line project.

Lai said that the central government approved the project before Lu succeeded Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍), then Taichung mayor and now foreign minister, but that her administration's "repeated route changes" had driven up the project's budget while construction had yet to begin.

Lai also cited an African swine fever incident in Taichung in October last year as another example of what he described as shortcomings in the Lu administration's governance.

Speaking to reporters at the opening ceremony of the Shuinan transit center, Lu responded by urging the president to pay greater attention to food safety amid continuing concerns over cooking oil contaminated with the carcinogen benzo[a]pyrene.

Lu said that Lai had not publicly addressed food safety since July 6, making him appear "indifferent to people's livelihoods."

Separately, KMT Chairperson Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) led the party's senior leadership at its Central Standing Committee meeting in Hsinchu County. The meeting was followed by a campaign rally attended by local party figures and around 400 supporters.

The absence of incumbent Deputy Magistrate Chen Chien-hsien (陳見賢) heightened concerns within the party over lingering tensions from its March primary, in which KMT Lawmaker Hsu Hsin-ying (徐欣瑩) defeated Chen to secure the party's nomination for county magistrate.

Hsu said that as long as the party remained united, the KMT would retain control of the county government, which it has held since 2001.