Campaign Season Begins in Taiwan

Election sea son opened here Thursday as candidates registered for parliamentary polls that pose the stiffest challenge yet to the Nationalist Party’s 50-year rule.

One candidate, injured recently in an attack, rode in an ambulance to register while others went with entourages beating gongs and drums to put their names down for the Dec. 2 elections. Candidates must register before next Thursday to run for the 164 seats at stake.

“He safeguards justice with his own life and blood,” read a banner held by a supporter of Su Ying-kuei, an independent candidate in Kaohsiung who rode in the ambulance. Su’s campaign office was burned down and he was wounded by unknown assailants last month, local newspapers said.

The Nationalists currently hold 92 of the 153 occupied seats in Parliament, and there is a distinct possibility they may lose their overall majority.

The main opposition, the Democratic Progressive Party, holds 50 seats and has made steady inroads into Nationalist support since democracy took root following the end of martial law in 1987.