Bloomberg News
Date: June 06, 2020
By: Samson Ellis and Argin Chang, Bloomberg News

(Bloomberg) — Residents of the southern Taiwanese port city of Kaohsiung voted overwhelmingly on Saturday to remove their mayor from office, bringing to an end the meteoric political rise and fall of a man dubbed Taiwan’s Donald Trump.

Of the 2.3 million citizens eligible to vote, about 40.8% supported the recall of Mayor Han Kuo-yu, while 1.1% opposed it, according to data on the website of the Kaohsiung City Election Commission. Han, Taiwan’s first city mayor to be recalled, conceded defeat in a TV broadcast.

“It’s unfortunate that our team have been constantly discredited, facing distorted, slanderous and unfounded criticism,” Han said. “I wish all the best to the kind citizens of Kaohsiung and that the next mayor let Kaohsiung people live a good life.”

Civil groups initiated the campaign to oust Han after he accepted the opposition Kuomintang’s nomination to run in the presidential election just months after being elected mayor in November 2018, breaking a previous promise he would see out his four-year term. He has been mayor of the city for 18 months.    [FULL  STORY]