By KHT Staff
TAINAN —The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) will begin its official primary polling for southern Taiwan on Sunday as the party gears up for the 2026 local elections. In Tainan City (台南市), the race has narrowed to a head-to-head contest between incumbent lawmakers Chen Ting-fei (陳亭妃) and Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲).
Party rules impose a strict “quiet period” during the six-day polling process. From January 9 onward, candidates and campaign teams are barred from giving interviews, publishing advertisements, referencing polls, or engaging in any form of personal promotion. Violations could result in disqualification.
Chen has spent the past two weeks cycling across all 37 administrative districts in Tainan as part of her “Women Power Mayor” campaign. On Saturday, she returned to the North, West Central, and Annan districts — the neighborhoods where her political career began — framing the move as symbolic of her grassroots roots. Chen, first elected as a city councilor at age 23, said she narrowly won her first legislative race in 2008 by just 943 votes and has since secured five consecutive terms, including multiple victories over KMT lawmaker Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介).
Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲), a veteran Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) politician from Tainan who has served multiple terms in both local and national government, began his political career as a Tainan City Councilor from 1998 to 2010 before being elected to the Legislative Yuan, Taiwan’s national legislature, where he has represented Tainan since 2016. Over the weekend, Lin staged a major rally in the Beimen area that drew more than 10,000 supporters. The event was attended by Tainan Mayor Huang Wei-che (黃偉哲), city council leaders, and several DPP lawmakers. Former Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) and former county magistrate Chen Tang-shan (陳唐山) also sent video messages of support.
On Saturday morning, Lin launched a motorcade tour through his own political home base and is set to hold a large evening rally in Yongkang District, Tainan’s most populous area.
The Tainan primary is part of a broader DPP polling process that also includes races for Kaohsiung mayor and Chiayi County magistrate, marking a crucial test for the ruling party ahead of November elections.
Source: United Daily News (聯合報)
