2026 ELECTIONS/Major party leaders rally across Taiwan in support of local election candidates

Taipei, Oct. 4 (CNA) Leaders of Taiwan's major political parties fanned out across the country on Sunday to campaign for their mayoral and city council candidates ahead of the Nov. 28 local elections, with events held in special municipalities including Taipei, Taichung and Kaohsiung.

In Taipei, President Lai Ching-te (賴清德), who also chairs the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), praised the party's Taipei mayoral candidate Puma Shen (沈伯洋) at the opening of Shen's campaign headquarters.

Lai said Shen is running what he described as a "positive campaign" focused on policy and the future of the capital, rather than attacking his opponent, incumbent Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) of the main opposition Kuomintang (KMT).

"Anyone who has taken part in an election knows that it is not easy to prove that you are better than others, but it is easier to prove that others are worse than you," Lai said, adding that negative campaigning was therefore common in elections around the world.

He urged Taipei voters to back Shen, saying the incumbent at-large lawmaker has the ability and vision to turn Taipei into a more international city and "a bridge between Taiwan and the world."

In remarks delivered before Lai, Shen said his campaign focuses on policy rather than negative campaigning because Taipei voters have high standards, arguing that discussing the city's development and residents' needs may be the "long way around," but is the right way to engage voters.

Former President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) also attended the rally after announcing earlier in the afternoon that she would serve as campaign chair for Shen. The event had drawn around 120,000 people by about 5:30 p.m., according to organizers.

Opposition parties campaign for candidates

In central Taiwan, KMT chair Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) attended the opening of the campaign headquarters of the party's Taichung mayoral candidate Johnny Chiang (江啟臣), alongside other KMT heavyweights, Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) and incumbent Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕).

Cheng said the KMT needed to win both the 2026 local elections and the 2028 presidential election so that the central and local governments could work in concert to promote economic development and peace.

In southern Taiwan, Taiwan People's Party (TPP) Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) joined KMT Kaohsiung mayoral candidate Ko Chih-en (柯志恩) at a campaign event for TPP Kaohsiung city council candidate Lin Yu-kai (林于凱).

In a show of KMT-TPP cooperation, Huang said Kaohsiung needs a new, forward-looking and efficient model of governance, and argued that Ko could bring such an approach to the port city in a way that would serve the common interests of all Kaohsiung residents.

He said Kaohsiung has long been dominated by members of the DPP's New Tide faction, leaving many problems unresolved, and that the TPP fully backs Ko in hopes of ending the faction's hold over the city.