Puma Shen

But just when everyone thought Taipei was really about to see a change, the DPP itself suddenly threw a bucket of cold water on it.

If the vote were held today, Puma Shen would still lose to Chung Wan On.

Can this current really change Taipei's political landscape? And how would Beijing ordering an intervention affect the election? Let's start with Kevin Tsai.

On the afternoon of October 4th, at the launch rally for Puma Shen's campaign headquarters, amidst a sea of 120,000 people, the livestream camera swept over a familiar profile.

He was wearing a straw hat, a black mask, and an orange shirt, the exact same color as the main visual for Puma Shen's campaign.

At first, he didn't even have a seat and was just sitting quietly on the ground.

Later on, staff members helped him find a chair, and he held a support balloon printed with Taipei Shanqi Lai, waving it along with the atmosphere.

Kevin Tsai's stance and Beijing's reaction, for one thing, show that under the increasingly tense cross-street relations, the room for ambiguity that Taiwanese artists once had has been greatly compressed.

The Southern Taiwan Science Park Administration sent labor inspectors to the scene and ordered the site preserved while an investigation continues.

Next, in politics, DPP candidate Puma Shen has overtaken the incumbent Taipei mayor, Jiang Wan-an, by seventeen points in the latest survey, a first golden cross for the challenger's Ocean Current campaign thirty-nine days before the vote.

A poll conducted by veteran pollster Dai Li-an for the Shin Min Association put Shen at fifty point three percent support against thirty-three point three percent for the KMT incumbent, with Shen up nine point eight points from the September survey.

Jiang acknowledged he did not expect this result and said he would step up outreach, while senior KMT figure Wang Jin-pyng urged him to adjust strategy.

Pingtung County's Education Department says it will seek to recover Jiang's illegal obtained salaries once the verdict becomes final.

Do you often complain about your job? Well, Taipei mayoral candidate Puma Shen wants to hear all about it.

Over the past few weeks, the DPP politician has garnered large crowds at his soapbox pop-ups all over the city, engaging with locals and hearing their rants and qualms.

Now Shen plans to start a new season of the events if he gets elected, dedicated to teachers and civil servants.

Zhang said the capable should do more and that the party must divide responsibilities internally and unite externally.

The appointment places Liu, one of the KMT's heaviest vote winners, behind Jiang Wen'an's bid against DPP challenger Puma Shen.

Next in health policy.

Health and welfare, Minister Xicheng Liang warned Sunday that a newly passed law exempting many seniors from national health insurance premiums will likely force premium increases onto Taiwan's 15 to 64 age group because central government funding cannot cover the insurance fund's deficit.