By KHT Staff. Regenerated AI reference image.
KAOHSIUNG — KMT Kaohsiung mayoral candidate Ko Chih-en (柯志恩) said Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) would be an asset in the city’s 2026 election, arguing that voters have largely moved on from the controversy surrounding his brief term as mayor.
Ko made the comments in an interview with the Liberty Times program Political Face-off.
Han was elected mayor of Kaohsiung in 2018, but ran for president the following year. He was recalled from office in 2020, a sequence that left many Kaohsiung voters critical of the KMT and wary of another party candidate using the mayoralty as a political stepping stone.
In the interview with Liberty Times, Ko acknowledged that Kaohsiung remains a city where the DPP has more support than the KMT, and said she does not deny that Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) has maintained strong approval ratings.
Ko also said previous mayors, including Han, deserved credit for parts of their work. She said Han’s administration, though short-lived, made improvements to roads, drainage, and flood prevention.
Asked whether she would serve a full term if elected mayor, Ko said she would.
“Absolutely,” she said, adding that serving a full term would be a basic commitment after the KMT’s experience in Kaohsiung.
Ko said that any issues regarding former mayor Han had already been fully reflected in the 2022 election, when she ran for mayor and won about 40% of the vote.
She said voters knew at the time that the candidate was Ko Chih-en, not Han, and argued that the same would be true in 2026.
“The name on the ballot is Ko Chih-en,” she said. “It is not anyone else, not Han Kuo-yu and not Cheng Li-wun.”
Agree votes above 25% — darker green. Recall election 2020. Via Wiki Commons.
Ko said Han’s role had changed since becoming legislative speaker, and that his appearances in Kaohsiung on behalf of KMT candidates would help rather than hurt the party.
Ko said the 2026 race should ultimately be judged on the candidate herself, rather than on other political figures associated with the party.
