Both the Democratic Progress Party (DPP) and the Kuomintang (KMT) have announced their candidates for Taiwan’s presidential election, which will be held on January 11, 2020. Amid the presidential race, many suspect a third candidate may throw his hat in the ring. This would be Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-Je (柯文哲), a political independent.
In 2018, Ko won the mayoral re-election by only 3,567 votes, barely beating his KMT opponent, Ting Shou-chung (丁守中), by 0.25%. After his re-election, however, almost every polling company has treated Ko as a potential presidential candidate. Both the DPP and KMT treat him as an imaginary opponent in their respective primary polls, despite Ko never having officially announced his desire to run.
Why is a mayor, who almost lost his re-election and who has never declared a run for the presidency, widely considered to be a presidential hopeful? His popularity can be understood through examining Taiwan’s political traditions and the composition of his support base.
