By Eryk Michael Smith/ KHT Staff.
KAOHSIUNG — Taiwan’s Nov. 28 local elections will decide more than 10,000 positions, from the mayors of the six special municipalities to county magistrates, councilors, township heads and village chiefs.
They are usually called the “nine-in-one” elections because nine categories of local offices are chosen on the same day. But the mayoral contests will receive most of the attention, both as local races and as a measure of the parties’ strength before the 2028 presidential election.
A useful new five-part election guide by political scientist Kharis Templeman looks at each race in detail. His piece is worth reading in full, as the facts and analysis are detailed and supported. But for KHT, we will stick to the south. Our editorial team here agrees with Templeman’s clear reminder that southern Taiwan is not one political bloc.
The Democratic Progressive Party has its strongest territory in the south. Yet the coming contests range from relatively secure DPP ground in Tainan to a rematch in Pingtung that was close four years ago.
Kaohsiung: DPP advantage, but a real contest
Kaohsiung is the largest of the southern contests and one of the most politically significant. The DPP’s Lai Jui-lung (賴瑞隆) will face the KMT’s Ko Chih-en (柯志恩) in an open race to replace term-limited Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁).
Templeman rates Kaohsiung as likely to remain in DPP hands. His reasoning is straightforward: the city remains more favorable to the DPP than Taiwan as a whole, Chen is a popular outgoing mayor, and the DPP currently holds all eight of Kaohsiung’s legislative seats.
That does not mean the result is settled. Ko has been campaigning in the city for years and performed better than many expected in 2022. A BigMedia poll released this month put Lai ahead by a narrow margin, 48 percent to 46 percent, a result that should be treated cautiously but suggests neither side can take turnout for granted.
As the campaign becomes more visible, there may be more indicators that show Kaohsiung’s usual partisan pattern is reasserting itself, or whether Ko is perhaps persuading enough voters that an opposition mayor would bring a different approach to city government.
Tainan: a familiar divide
Tainan is the DPP’s strongest major-city base. Legislator Chen Ting-fei (陳亭妃) won the DPP nomination and will face KMT candidate Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介), who also ran in 2022.
Templeman notes that the KMT’s Hsieh received more than 43 percent of the vote in the 2022 race, an unusually strong result for a KMT candidate in Tainan. But the city’s long-term voting record still gives Chen a clear structural advantage.
The campaign is likely to turn partly on everyday issues rather than ideology alone. Tainan voters have faced complaints about infrastructure, flooding and uneven economic development, especially outside the city’s better-known industrial areas.
Still, a KMT victory would require a major shift in a city that’s been run by the DPP since it became a special municipality in 2010.
Pingtung: the south’s closest mayoral rematch
Pingtung may be the southern race most worth watching. Incumbent magistrate Chou Chun-mi (周春米) is seeking re-election for the DPP against KMT candidate Su Ching-chuan (蘇清泉).
Their 2022 contest was decided by roughly 11,000 votes, with Chou winning 49 percent to 47 percent. That close result makes it difficult to treat Pingtung as a routine DPP hold, even though the county has generally leaned green in national elections.
Su has focused much of his criticism on the county’s economic position. Pingtung remains heavily agricultural and is not connected to Taiwan’s west-coast high-speed rail system. He argues that it has missed out on parts of the technology-driven growth seen elsewhere.
Chou, meanwhile, has the advantages of incumbency and a DPP-leaning electorate. Templeman assesses that she remains favored, but only narrowly. The absence so far of a significant third-party candidate could also help prevent the anti-DPP vote from splitting.
Chiayi and Yunlin: local networks still matter
Further north, Chiayi County remains one of the DPP’s most reliable areas. The DPP’s Tsai Yi-yu (蔡易餘) is running to replace term-limited Magistrate Weng Chang-liang (翁章梁), while the KMT and Taiwan People’s Party are supporting Puzih Mayor Wu Pin-jui (吳品叡), an independent.
Templeman describes the KMT’s decision not to field its own candidate as historically unusual in Chiayi County. It reflects the difficulty of competing in a county where the party has not won the magistrate’s race outright since 1993.
Yunlin is more complicated. KMT candidate Chang Chia-chun (張嘉郡), a legislator and member of the powerful Chang political family, is competing against DPP legislator Liu Chien-kuo (劉建國).
There, family and local faction networks can matter as much as national party labels. Templeman gives the KMT a slight advantage, though Yunlin has leaned toward the DPP in presidential elections.
The broader lesson? Southern Taiwan is routinely described as “green,” but election results here, as in most of Taiwan, are shaped by local candidates, transport and development concerns, party organization and turnout.
This article draws on Kharis Templeman’s 2026 local-election preview, particularly his special-municipality overview and southern Taiwan analysis. Templeman is a political scientist who writes regularly about Taiwan’s electoral politics.
