Browsing: Kaohsiung mayor race 2026

Polls have shown Lai ahead 45.5%, with Ko at 26.2% — but others have Ko leading Lai 44% to 37.7%, underscoring how fluid the race still appears to be this far from election day.

The visit came as Tsai has remained highly visible on social media after leaving office, with recent appearances alongside Democratic Progressive Party candidates in other parts of Taiwan.

By Eryk Michael Smith / Staff KAOHSIUNG — With his second term nearing its end, Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁)…

Ko said defense procurement should be guided by strategic priorities and fiscal discipline, adding that spending related to domestic production and industrial support should be incorporated into regular annual budgets to ensure legislative oversight.

Notably, 68% of Kuomintang (KMT) supporters expressed satisfaction with his performance, while approval among Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) supporters exceeded 93%.

A brief meeting between the KMT’s Ko Chih-en and the TPP’s Ko Wen-je is drawing attention amid ongoing speculation over a possible KMT–TPP alignment in Kaohsiung, where the race between Ko and the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) Lai Jui-lung (賴瑞隆) will likely narrow despite Lai currently enjoying a large lead in many polls.

Her decision came one day after she initially indicated she would not exit the race, a stance that drew widespread criticism online and from political observers.

Political analyst and lawyer Ross Feingold explained to Kaohsiung Times that “Criminal case judgments are available online, including the judgment in Huang’s case. In other words, the judgment was available to anyone who had bothered to search the court database for Huang’s name, making it likely someone brought this to the attention of the media now in order to damage Huang’s chances of winning a nomination”.

After authorities issued orders halting soil removal, the operation allegedly escalated rather than stopped. Instead of restoring the land with clean fill, suspects are accused of dumping construction waste — including bricks, concrete debris, plastic refuse, and even tires — into the pits, covering them with thin soil to conceal the contamination.

The contest for southern Taiwan’s largest city is widely seen as one of the most closely watched local races of 2026, with both camps testing whether long-standing political patterns in Kaohsiung will hold or are beginning to bend.