Taiwan: High drama in Taiwan vote as doctor takes on gun victim he saved | AFP
It is the most dramatic contest of Taiwan’s biggest ever local elections — a high-flying surgeon takes on the man whose life he helped save after he was shot in the head on the campaign trail. Emergency doctor Ko Wen-je led the team which operated on financier Sean Lien after Lien was attacked at a rally in November 2010. Now they are rivals in the intense battle for the influential post of Taipei mayor, with voters going to the polls Saturday. Independent candidate Ko, 55, has surged ahead of Beijing-friendly Lien, who is son of a vice president and running for the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) party. Maverick Ko’s lead in opinion polls reflects disenchantment with the KMT government over fears of increased Chinese influence, a slowing economy and a string of food scandals. Polls show the KMT is likely to take a beating in Saturday’s elections, which will see 20,000 candidates contest a record 11,130 seats and are an important barometer for a presidential vote in 2016. Losing Taipei, a KMT stronghold, would be a major embarrassment for the government.