TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Those in Taiwan wishing for a public holiday on Dec. 25 can look to Kuomintang (KMT) presidential candidate Hou Yu-ih (侯友宜), who has pledged to make it a public holiday, but instead of for Christmas, it would be to commemorate the constitution.

Hou said he would make Dec. 25 a holiday earlier this month if elected. "Constitution Day" was once a public holiday, but was abolished after the transition from a six-day to a five-day work week in 2000. Now, the holiday is mostly marked by government departments and the military.

In a Monday (Dec. 25) Facebook post, Hou wished his supporters a happy festive season, while also criticizing his opponent Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate Lai Ching-te (賴清德).

“We will never allow Lai Ching-te to continue to trample on the Constitution of the Republic of China (ROC) and insult our country,” Hou wrote on Facebook, referring to Lai’s past criticisms of the constitution.

In 2019, Lai said that the constitution was formulated for China, not Taiwan, and voiced his support for a new constitution. On Sunday Lai questioned the importance Hou places on the constitution, as he said under the 1992 consensus, which Hou is also a supporter of, China will not recognize the constitution.

Hou’s running mate Jaw Shaw-kong (趙少康) also voiced his support for the holiday on Christmas Day (Dec. 25). Jaw said that recently more and more young people went out to celebrate Christmas on Dec. 24, and a public holiday would allow them to rest the next day, per UDN.

Jaw said previously, some had worried that if Dec. 25 was made a public holiday, all religions would seek their own also. He said these worries are unfounded as the day off would be to mark the establishment of Taiwan’s constitution, and just happened to fall on the same day as Christmas.