Ko Chih-en, the Kuomintang (KMT) candidate for mayor of Kaohsiung, registered her candidacy on September 3, accompanied by former Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng and several fellow party councillors. Her husband drove her by motorcycle to the city government's Fengshan administrative centre, from where she walked with the councillors to the Kaohsiung City Election Commission, the Central News Agency (CNA) reported.
Who turned out for her? Wang, who the Liberty Times reported led pan-blue elected representatives in standing with her, came to cheer her on along with Lin Yu-kai, a Taiwan People's Party (TPP) candidate for Kaohsiung city council. Council candidates from both the KMT and the TPP backed her in a display of cross-party unity, CNA reported. Wang said he had also turned out for her four years ago, when she first ran for Kaohsiung mayor, and that the number of councillors present after four years of groundwork showed the strength of local unity. He called on supporters to unite and gather all supporting forces so that she would be elected with a high vote, and said he hoped she would lead the city forward, build a better living environment, emphasise moral education and give residents safe and stable lives.
What is Ko running on? Ko said she had walked all 38 of Kaohsiung's administrative districts in recent years and worn through nearly four pairs of cloth shoes, staying at the grassroots alongside residents, CNA reported. Four years ago she lost with 530,000 votes, a defeat she called honourable; this time, she said, she would lead her team to a glorious victory that brings real change to Kaohsiung. She said she has no faction behind her and that the city's residents are her biggest backing, adding that Kaohsiung must first break the forces obstructing change and that she would break the factional structure to give the city a new choice. During the registration she brought out a pair of boxing gloves to symbolise breaking that factional structure. She said she would keep her promises to residents, walking the city step by step to win more of their recognition and support.
What did she pledge? She vowed to win the mayoral race on November 28 and said the council candidates would sweep their contests, the Liberty Times reported. The paper's headline carried her words: "From honourable defeat to glorious victory; the green grass cleared away, the blue sky back again."
