Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Lai Ching-te (賴清德) and his campaign team must carefully assess his recent decline in most of the latest 2024 Taiwan presidential election polls. Choosing Taiwan’s U.S. representative, Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴), as his running mate could significantly boost Vice President Lai’s popularity.
Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) has been experiencing a steady rise in popularity. The former Taipei City mayor consistently outperforms Lai among younger voters. Winning more support from middle-aged and undecided voters could see him put even more pressure on Lai. However, Ko’s flip-flopping on various issues may impact his favorability.
Despite an initial agreement to collaborate against the DPP in January’s legislative elections, the TPP and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) have yet to agree on how to select the “strongest opposition presidential candidate” in order to join forces for the presidential election.
The KMT’s leadership wants to use an open primary to determine if its candidate, New Taipei City Mayor Hou Yu-ih (侯友宜), or the TPP’s Ko would lead a KMT-TPP joint presidential ticket. The TPP wants to use opinion polls to make the decision. If the KMT’s leadership refuses to compromise, it may further harm the party’s image as well as prospects for working with Ko, who has already said pressure to run on a joint ticket with Hou felt like being pressured into a “forced marriage.”
Billionaire independent candidate Terry Gou (郭台銘) this week submitted 1,036,778 signatures, or more than three times the required valid signatures of 1.5 percent of eligible voters, to qualify as a candidate for the 2024 Taiwan presidential election. Next, Gou must address challenges stemming from China’s investigation into his company, Foxconn, and allegations bribes were paid during the signature collection drive.
Leave a Reply