Kaohsiung: Legislator Lai Jui-lung has emerged victorious in the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) Kaohsiung mayoral primary, positioning him to be formally nominated by the party later this month for Taiwan's year-end local elections, the DPP announced Tuesday.

According to Focus Taiwan, the 52-year-old, three-term lawmaker topped a field of four candidates, which included legislators Chiu Yi-ying, Hsu Chih-chieh, and Lin Tai-hua. The decision was based on telephone polling conducted with Kaohsiung residents Monday evening. The poll, conducted by three polling organizations and based on at least 1,200 valid responses, indicated that Lai Jui-lung would perform best in a potential matchup against the likely Kuomintang (KMT) opponent, Ko Chih-en, with a margin of 55.99 percent to 24.89 percent.

Lai's performance slightly outdid that of Chiu Yi-ying, who polled at 55.38 percent against Ko's 24.66 percent. Hsu Chih-chieh and Lin Tai-hua followed with 51.90 percent-25.14 percent and 50.59 percent-21.75 percent, respectively, against Ko. Lai's political journey includes serving as the head of the Kaohsiung City government's information and marine bureaus during Mayor Chen Chu's tenure and representing a Kaohsiung-based district in the Legislature since 2016, securing at least 57 percent of votes in three elections.

Despite facing a challenge last month when local media reported his son's involvement in school bullying incidents, Lai held a press conference to address the allegations and chose to remain in the race.

The DPP employs a hybrid primary system for selecting mayoral and magistrate nominees. This system sometimes involves direct candidate selection by the party and other times relies on primaries using telephone polling. In the current electoral cycle, the DPP has opted for internal candidate selection in KMT-held or KMT-leaning municipalities but has organized primaries in areas where an incumbent DPP mayor or magistrate is stepping down, such as Kaohsiung, Tainan, and Chiayi County.

Lai's nomination will be submitted to the DPP's Central Executive Committee for approval on Jan. 21. Taiwan's local elections, which will determine city and county chiefs and councilors, are scheduled for Nov. 28.