TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — New Taipei City Mayor Hou Yu-ih (侯友宜) holds a massive lead over his challenger, but in four of the other five special municipalities the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidates would win in the Nov. 26 local elections, an opinion poll showed Tuesday (July 20).

In Taipei City, the recently nominated former Health and Welfare Minister Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) would hold a lead over Kuomintang (KMT) Legislator Wayne Chiang (蔣萬安), according to the Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation (TPOF) survey, though it did not include incumbent Vice Mayor Huang Shan-shan (黃珊珊), as she has not announced her bid yet. The poll saw Chen receive 19% of the vote, followed by Chiang at 17.2%.

In neighboring New Taipei City, 42% of respondents said they wanted to re-elect the KMT’s Hou for a second term, while 16.8% said they supported DPP candidate and former Transportation Minister Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍).

However, the only other KMT candidate to lead in the survey was Taichung City Mayor Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕), with 18.3% over her DPP challenger, Legislative Yuan Deputy Speaker Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌), who received 9.1%.

While in Taoyuan County, DPP candidate Lin Chih-chien (林智堅) has been the subject of allegations of plagiarism for his theses, he was still leading his opponent, former Premier Simon Chang (張善政), by 17.1% to 8.2%. Asked whether the accusations against Lin would prove a serious influence on the election results, 36.4% of respondents answered affirmatively, but 48.2% said its impact would be limited.

In south Taiwan, often seen as a DPP stronghold, the race in Kaohsiung City would see incumbent Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) easily defeat recently named KMT challenger Ko Chih-en (柯志恩) by 28.1% to 7.3%.

In neighboring Tainan City, incumbent Mayor Huang Wei-che (黃偉哲) would win a second and final term as mayor by beating KMT City Councilor Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) 20.4% to 10.2%, the poll said.

The TPOF conducted the survey July 11-13, collecting 1,075 valid responses with a margin of error of 2.99%.