By KHT Staff. Image shows Councilor Chien Huan-tsung campaigning at a Kaohsiung intersection on Monday despite facing no challengers in the District 6 election. Photo via Chien Huan-tsung.
KAOHSIUNG — Four incumbent Kaohsiung city councilors will face no challengers in November’s election, although election law means their return to office is not automatic.
District 6, which covers Cijin (旗津), Gushan (鼓山) and Yancheng (鹽埕), has four council seats. When candidate registration closed last week, only the four sitting councilors had registered: Lee Chiao-ju (李喬如), Chien Huan-tsung (簡煥宗), Tsai Chin-yen (蔡金晏) and Chen Mei-ya (陳美雅).
It is the district’s first election with no more candidates than available seats and the first such Kaohsiung council race since the city and county merged in 2010, according to the Liberty Times.
Citywide, 101 candidates registered to contest seats across Kaohsiung’s 15 electoral districts.
The absence of challengers does not allow the four District 6 candidates to simply walk back into office.
Under Article 70 of the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act, candidates in a council election with no more contenders than seats must each receive votes equal to at least 10% of the district’s eligible voters divided by the number of available seats.
Using the 2022 electorate as an example, District 6 had 153,513 eligible voters and four council seats. That would place the minimum at approximately 3,838 votes for each candidate.
The actual threshold will be calculated using the number of eligible voters in this year’s election.
A candidate who fails to reach the threshold will not be elected, even if there is nobody else on the ballot. The unfilled position would be treated as a council vacancy. If at least half of the district’s seats became vacant, a by-election would have to be completed within three months.
The unusual situation has therefore not ended campaigning in the district.
Chien was photographed at a roadside intersection asking for votes Monday morning. He said despite the situation, he was approaching the Nov. 28 election cautiously and would continue campaigning at full strength.
With four candidates seeking four seats, District 6 voters will not decide which hopefuls defeat their opponents. They will decide whether each incumbent has enough support to return at all.
