Staff writer, with CNAAs the Jan. 11 presidential and legislative elections approach, shifts in regional voter preferences will likely dictate how the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and opposition candidates will fare, political observers said. However, that conventional wisdom did not hold up in the 2016 presidential election or in the local elections on Nov. 24 last year. In central Taiwan, dominated by Taichung and Changhua, voters have gone both ways, supporting the DPP in local elections in 2014 and in the presidential and legislative elections in 2016, but voting resoundingly for the KMT in last year’s local elections. Taichung is now the nation’s second-largest city, behind only New Taipei City, thanks to a continued influx of new residents, and the changing population structure could result in considerable uncertainty, Yu said. In Kaohsiung, Han is likely to lose to Tsai, because residents are unhappy with him for seeking the presidency just months after winning the mayoral election, he said.

Source: Taipei Times November 29, 2019 16:38 UTC