Kaohsiung Mayoral Election: 5 people ran for office, a record high. There is a phenomenon of equal quota for members of the 6th District.

Registration for the next Kaohsiung mayor and councilor election closes on the 4th. A total of 5 people are vying for the mayor, setting a record for the largest number of candidates after the merger of the county and city. A total of 101 people have registered for the 15 councilor districts. The "equal quota" in the 6th district is the first time that Kaohsiung City Councilor elections have occurred.

The Gao City Election Committee explained that the five candidates running for mayor, in order of registration, are Zhang Jing of the Judicial Reform Party, Lai Ruilong of the Democratic Progressive Party, Wang Zhaomin of the Independent Party, Ke Zhien of the Chinese Kuomintang, and Hong Fanglong of the Independent Party.

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After the merger of Kaohsiung County and City, a total of four mayoral elections and one mayoral by-election were held. In the first term, three people competed, in the second term, two people, in the third and fourth terms, four people each, and in the by-election, there were three people. In the fifth term, five people were registered, which was the most after the merger.

There are 65 seats to be elected in 15 constituencies, and a total of 101 people have registered. The most special thing is that 4 seats are to be elected in constituency 6 (Gushan Yancheng, Cijin), and only 4 current members have registered for re-election without any challengers. This is the first time that the Gao City Councilor election has "equal quotas".

The Election Committee pointed out that district chiefs with the same quota can be elected with one vote, but members are different. According to Article 70 of the Public Officials Election and Recall Law, when the number of candidates does not exceed or is less than the number of candidates in the constituency (i.e., the same quota election), local public opinion representatives such as county and city councilors, township citizen representatives, etc., must pass the minimum number of votes for election.

The minimum vote threshold is 10% of the quotient obtained by dividing the number of electors in the electoral district by the total number of electors in the electoral district. Taking the 2022 election of the six electoral districts as an example, the total number of electors was 153,513 and 4 seats should be elected. The quotient of 153,513 divided by 4 is 38,373, multiplied by 10% to "3837", which is the minimum vote threshold if the number was the same in the previous election.

In addition, 13 people have registered the most in District 10 (where Xiaogangqian Town has 7 seats to be elected), followed by District 4 (where Zuoying Nanzi has 9 seats) and District 7 (where Sanmin has 8 seats), with 12 people each, and District 9 (where Fengshan has 8 seats), where 10 people have registered. The oldest candidate is the 83-year-old grandma Jiang Huang in District 3, and the youngest candidate is 30-year-old Chen Guanyu in District 4.