Source: Taiwan Straits Network
From left: Dai Xiangyi, Li Mingxuan, Liu Caiwei
◆ Xu Caizhen
◆ Liu Shanling
Huang Haoying Chen Siyu
Taiwan's "nine-in-one" election at the end of 2022 has gradually heated up, and various political parties on the island have gradually introduced candidates. The election of blue-green celebrities and political stars has naturally attracted attention. In addition, the election also attracted attention from those high-value newcomers who "turned out to be out of the world". They are young, fresh, passionate in politics, and collectively known as "electoral assassins." They became a bright landscape in the election, and the "election dessert" that gave people some joy in the brutal election.
In this year's election, the major camps of blue, green and white laid out early and launched many "election assassins", especially at the election level of county and city councilors, hoping to play the role of "beauty card" and "handsome brother card" and harvest better results.
The Kuomintang vigorously promoted the participation of young people in politics
In Taiwan, the "election assassin" has become a prominent political science. Every election, this high-value, fresh "condiment" is indispensable.
This year's "nine-in-one" election began, and it was rumored that the Blue Camp had planned to launch a beautiful and handsome "assassin" to prepare for the war and vigorously promote the participation of young people in politics.
For example, in Chiayi County, because no candidate could be found, it was rumored that he deliberately sent Wu Liangyi, the only daughter of Wen Yuxia, a "legislator" who was not a sub-district, and Wu Liangyi, chairman of the Chiayi County Women's Association, to fight against Weng Zhangliang, a dpp county magistrate who was seeking re-election. Wu Liangyi is 31 years old, with a fresh image, modest personality, excellent education and experience, and has been highly recognized by the Kuomintang Chiayi County Councillors.
In Kaohsiung, it was also rumored that Xu Caihao, the daughter of the late Kaohsiung City Council Speaker Xu Kunyuan, would stand up to continue her father's career, which was like announcing that she would enter the 2022 Kaohsiung City Council election. In addition, it is rumored that the Kuomintang will send a "beautiful female assassin group" in the 2022 parliamentary election, including Li Mingxuan, who is known as the "most orthodox host of North Drift", LIU Caiwei, a TV news anchor, and Dai Xiangyi, deputy spokesperson of the New Taipei City Government. As soon as the news came out, netizens saw three people lined up in a row and praised chaomei. Taiwan media reported that Kuomintang Chairman Zhu Lilun will also launch a disciple soldier, "beautiful assassin" Zhang Yahan, to participate in the Taoyuan City Councilor election. There are also many "handsome assassins", such as Qian Zhenyu, spokesman of Lian Shengwen's office, and Yang Zhidou, a staff member of Taipei City Councilor Luo Zhiqiang, who are also interested in entering the parliamentary election. Another example is the "Hou (Youyi) Family Army" youth election general and deputy spokesman of the New Taipei City Government, Lu Jiakai, who plans to compete for the city councilor of The Sanying District of Tushu, where the family is located; Wu Xunxiao, secretary of the New Taipei Civil Affairs Bureau and son of Wu Shengwen, the head of Mie Mitsuda, plans to participate in the election of the city councilor of Sanchong Luzhou District.
Green and white also crazy out of the "Assassin Card"
Like the Kuomintang, the DPP and the People's Party are also playing the "election assassin card."
The kaohsiung city council is now blue greater than green, both parties are shouting more than half of the seats, willing to seize the seat of the speaker, blue and green have sent "assassins", of which Li Tinghui, 2 newcomers from the Green Camp Daqi Mei District, and Lin Huixin, who was a TV host, have outstanding appearance and become "petite" points. In the Battle of Changhua County Councillors, Liu Shanling, the "student sister" of the former DPP county magistrate Wei Minggu's campaign team, confirmed that she would throw herself into a difficult constituency, change her identity from her staff, and challenge the fifth constituency of The Changhua County Councillor.
Whether the chairman of the People's Party, Ko Wen-che, will run in Taipei City in 2024 is unknown, but he has been operating in Taipei City for nearly 8 years and has the advantage of governing, and many young fighters in the People's Party will be active in the 2022 Taipei City Councillor election.
At present, there are 6 constituencies have attracted 30 people to register to rush out of the line, in addition to the deputy spokesperson of the municipal government Huang Haoying and Wei Youren to stand for election, former TV anchor Wu Yixuan as a "beautiful female assassin" to participate in the election of Zheng and Wanhua, Taipei City's former director of the Guan chuan bureau Chen Siyu intends to run for Shilin and Beitou, afraid of a "double-sister showdown" with Huang Hanying. In addition, there is a beautiful female spokesperson Yang Baozhen in the third constituency of Taipei City who wants to participate in the war. A few days ago, it was also reported that Ko Wenzhe had promised Taipei Municipal Government Deputy Spokesperson Lin Zhenyu to leave his post and prepare to participate in the 2022 parliamentary election.
How to fight the high-value election campaign?
Taiwan media reported that the "assassin' tactics" originated in Japan's 2005 House of Representatives election. At that time, Japan's Liberal Democratic Party launched a large number of new people with fresh images, coupled with media publicity, and the effect was obvious.
This strategy of winning votes with a high appearance and a fresh image was subsequently applied to Taiwan's elections. In 2014, the KMT recruited former "information bureau chief" Jiang Qichen, former anchor Chen Yizhen, former chairman of the Wenchuan Association Su Junbin, former basketball player Qian Weijuan and others to act as "assassins", which greatly boosted the morale of the party and added a lot of watchability to the election.
In recent years, in order to seize the trend of "youth participation in politics", all parties on the island have vigorously supported young people running for parliament, including many rookies under the age of 30, attracting various media to report on it.
The high-value "election assassin" makes the election campaign eye-catching, but will it also make the election a vote that only looks like it?
Some analyst reports pointed out that for constituencies that have long been won by veteran politicians, as long as the image of the new people parachuted in is fresh enough, they can attract the support of voters who are dissatisfied with the current people's generation or eager for change. Even high appearance can attract some "pig brother votes" who do not look at political opinions and achievements, but only look at the appearance of voting, so it is not without a chance to win. However, such a campaign strategy can only be applied to newcomers who are running for the first time, and once they are lucky enough to be elected, they cannot pin their hopes on re-election on copying the same strategy. If the parliamentarians do not hand over a beautiful report card during their term of office, it may be quite difficult to win re-election.