TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A KMT city councilor has been accused of interfering in the DPP’s Tainan mayoral primary, with local media reporting links between the councilor and DPP Legislator Chen Ting-fei (陳亭妃).

According to a report by Mirror Media, Chen has received support from KMT Tainan City Councilor Tsai Yu-hui (蔡育輝) since the start of the DPP primary. Tsai has reportedly promoted Chen at his own campaign booth.

Citing the heavy foot traffic around Chi Mei Hospital in Tainan’s Liouying District, a source told Mirror Media that Tsai’s family rented a nearby plot of land from the Taiwan Sugar, allegedly with Chen’s assistance, to operate a parking lot. The same source alleged that Tsai was involved in difficulties the hospital later encountered while negotiating with Taiwan Sugar to expand its parking facilities.

The source said Tsai had told associates that Chen helped resolve the parking issue when members of President Lai Ching-te’s (賴清德) faction were attempting to interfere with what was described as a profitable arrangement.

A separate source told Mirror Media that the head of Chen’s campaign support group in Annan District had urged members of multiple Line messaging groups to support KMT presidential candidate Hou You-yi (侯友宜) over Lai in the 2024 presidential election.

Chen’s primary rival, Legislator Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲), said the reporting supported his long-standing claim that the KMT has been interfering in the DPP primary for more than a year, per ETtoday. He argued that Chen’s polling numbers have been inflated by KMT backing and said he consistently performs better than Chen among core DPP voters.

Lin also accused KMT Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) of attempting to influence the DPP to nominate a weaker candidate for the general election.

Responding to the report, Chen said that if the KMT were indeed assisting her, her polling lead over Lin would be even larger. She said Hsieh and people close to him have acknowledged her advantage in surveys, adding that she has defeated Hsieh in all five head-to-head matchups between them.

Chen also disputed Mirror Media’s characterization that polling results have shown alternating leads between her and Lin, saying she has never trailed Lin in any survey and has consistently led him by double digits.

Hsieh called on fellow KMT members to follow party rules and refrain from interfering in other parties’ internal nomination processes, per Newtalk.