Recent polls show Keelung's mayor George Hsieh may survive an upcoming vote on whether to recall him, showing his opponents may not have the numbers they need to oust him.
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00:00In just over two weeks, a vote that could remove this mayor from office.
00:08In Keelung, Taiwan's northernmost city, residents will decide on Oct. 13 whether they have confidence
00:14in George Hsieh or if they want him gone.
00:18A petition to oust Hsieh collected more than 36,000 signatures, enough to hold a formal
00:23recall vote.
00:25Those who want Hsieh out say he abused his power by transferring the property rights
00:29of a mall to a company owned by the family of a former girlfriend.
00:34Earlier polling suggested the mayor's opponents might succeed in removing him, but more recent
00:39polls indicate their lead has evaporated.
00:43In a poll of over 1,000 Keelung residents from late September, 40 percent said they
00:48did not support a recall of the mayor, while only around 25 percent said they'd vote to
00:53remove him.
00:54Others said they were undecided or would not vote.
01:00In a recent interview, Mayor Hsieh also said his supporters were more likely to show up
01:04to vote, pointing to an opinion poll carried out by his party, the Kuomintang, the main
01:09opposition in the central government.
01:24For a recall to succeed, at least 25 percent of Keelung's eligible voters need to vote
01:34to remove the mayor, and they need to outnumber the votes for him to stay.
01:39Hsieh has touted his accomplishments since he took office at the end of 2022, saying
01:44he's improved the city's finances.
01:47But the city's former mayor, Lin Youchang, a top official in Taiwan's nationally ruling
01:52Democratic Progressive Party, has pushed back.
01:55He says the city's financial situation is only good because of money allocated by the
02:00central government, and has attacked what he calls a lack of talent in Hsieh's administration.
02:12These clashes are just the latest in months of political back and forth between those
02:17who support Hsieh and those who are working to remove him from office.
02:21But in the end, it's Keelung's voters who will deliver the final verdict.
02:26Dolphin Chen and Keynes Coranta for Taiwan Plus.