Lin Guozhang, candidate for Yilan County Mayor of the Democratic Progressive Party. (Photo by reporter Wang Junqi)
A total of five people have registered to run for the Yilan County Magistrate election, including Lin Guozhang from the Democratic Progressive Party, Wu Zongxian from the Kuomintang, Chen Hongyi, Liu Canhui, and Yang Kuanting, who are not party members. It is generally expected that the situation will return to a decisive battle between blue and green. Lin Guozhang and Wu Zongxian will face off. The election will be in a stalemate. After registration closes, the election will enter a close fight, and it is still undecided who will win.
Yilan County has been governed by the Democratic Progressive Party for a long time and is regarded as a "holy land of democracy" by Green Camp. In 2018, Lin Zhimiao from the Kuomintang was elected as the first female county magistrate. Four years later, she was re-elected with a high vote. Unexpectedly, she was involved in a corruption case and was sentenced to 12 and a half years in prison at the first instance. She has been suspended from office since the end of 2024. Will it affect the Yilan County Magistrate election at the end of the year? That remains to be seen.
In order to regain the power to govern Yilan, the Democratic Progressive Party nominated lawyer Lin Guozhang to run for the election in October last year and then fully assisted in the election. Lin Guozhang is a native of Yilan. He works as a legal aid lawyer and teaches at National Yilan University and Yilan Social University. He boasts of 30 years of service in the local area, professional legal literacy, and a fresh image. He has been given the important task of "recovering lost soil."
Lin Guozhang is based in Yilan City, the largest vote bank in Yilan County. Through the "237 Yilan Gaizhang" tour throughout the county, he has built relationships with fellow villagers in each village, defended Yilan City's natal districts, and increased the number of votes in green camp advantageous constituencies in Wujie, Dongshan and other places. This has become his primary strategy.
Wu Zongxian was born in Taipei City. After serving as a non-district legislator of the Kuomintang, he established the Yilan Service Office in February last year and began to serve Yilan voters. He has a high political exposure in the Legislative Yuan and has accumulated popularity. In the primary election of the Kuomintang Yilan County Mayor Party, he first overthrew Speaker Zhang Shengde, whose family has been working in Yilan for 40 years, and then defeated Chen Wanhui, chairman of the Yilan County Party Committee of the People’s Party, and became a candidate recommended by Blue and White.
After Wu Zongxian was nominated by the Kuomintang, he disclosed that his daughter was born in Yilan and his parents moved to Jiaoxi. He was eager to tear off the "airborne" label and called for "Yilan to take a new path." This was interpreted as being different from Lin Zimiao, who was suspended for corruption. In terms of election issues, he tried to link the poisonous oil case with local elections, labeling Lin Guozhang as a central agent.
The Yilan County Magistrate election is currently in a desperate battle. Lin Guozhang used county government briefings to expand his vote base, while Wu Zongxian mobilized strongly with the grassroots organizations of the Kuomintang. The two sides continued to compete. Who will win the county seat in the end may not be revealed until the voting results are released.
Wu Zongxian, candidate for Yilan County Mayor of the Kuomintang. (Photo by reporter Wang Junqi)
