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With Taiwan's local elections a little over a month away, candidates are trying to win goodwill with the public. However, two candidates for Taipei mayor are fighting for credit over one key COVID-era policy.

Chen Shih-chung and Huang Shan-shan are both running for Taipei mayor in the upcoming November elections. Before registering as candidates, Chen was Taiwan's health minister and Huang was Taipei's deputy mayor under incumbent Ko Wen-je. 

Both candidates had a hand in managing Taiwan's COVID pandemic response. Now, as they vie for votes, the two are trying to take credit for developing quarantine hotels — converted hotels where people could undergo COVID-related quarantines. 

Chen says quarantine hotels were an extension of government quarantine facilities. Huang says her team in Taipei was the one who first developed the procedures for establishing the hotels.

Amid this disagreement, the owner of Taiwan's first quarantine hotel has spoken up. He says that Huang is the one that helped get the quarantine hotel plan off the ground. 

Taiwan will hold mayoral elections in November. While campaigning began months ago, Monday was the first day that candidates could officially register for the race.

Cheng Yun-peng is running for mayor of Taoyuan City on behalf of the ruling DPP. His voice is raspy as he addresses a group of people outside of Taiwan's Election Commission. He says that campaigning has taken a toll on his vocal chords. While Cheng has been campaigning for a few weeks now, Monday was the first day he could officially file his candidacy. He was the first person to do so. 

Among the others to register for the election on Monday were DPP candidate for Pingtung mayor, Chou Chun-mi, and Taichung City candidate Tsai Chi-chang. 

The opposition Kuomintang's candidate for Nantou County, Hsu Shu-hua, also tendered her candidacy on Monday.

With less than 90 days left before voters head to the polls, election campaigns are in full swing. Politicians are hitting the streets and banners are covering buildings. Registering to run is a necessary formality. If Monday was the start of the official race, then candidates everywhere have already jumped the gun. 

Thursday marks 100 days away from election day in Taiwan. On November 26, voters will choose local leaders and decide whether to change the constitution to lower the voting age to 18. Elections chief Lee Chin-yung says November's election will involve 19 million eligible voters choosing 11,000 positions.

Lee says the central government will set up more than 17,000 polling stations — 2,000 more than the last local elections in 2018. Authorities will also mobilize 300,000 volunteers to assist with the process and count votes.

This year's election has added historical significance because it will mark the first time in Taiwan's history that people will vote on a constitutional amendment. Lee says citizens over 20 — which is the voting age right now — should enthusiastically exercise their democratic rights.

Election authorities have also prepared various measures to prevent the spread of COVID during voting.

Today we're taking a look at the former Hsinchu City mayor, and current DPP candidate for Taoyuan City Mayor, Lin Chih-Chien. Lin has been all over the news since July when he was accused of plagiarizing his masters thesis while studying at National Taiwan University. On Tuesday, an NTU committee found that Lin had in fact copied large sections of a classmate's thesis. The school has since revoked Lin's master's degree.

Lin was born in 1975 in Hsinchu City. He began his political career by serving as an assistant to DPP heavyweight Ker Chien-ming. In 2009 he was elected to Hsinchu City council. 5 years later he won the 2014 Hsinchu City mayoral election, beating his challenger by a mere 1,000 votes. After getting reelected in 2018, Lin started gaining momentum in the party. In 2021, he pushed to consolidate his city with Hsinchu County allowing it to become a provincial-level municipality. In 2022, he was chosen as the DPP's candidate for Taoyuan mayor in the November election. 

But Lin began facing controversy after his candidacy was announced. Apart from the plagiarism scandal, he was criticized for mismanaging Hsinchu Baseball Stadium's renovation, which took place when he was mayor. What's interesting about this story is the attention it's getting as China continues military exercises surrounding Taiwan. Education is extremely important in Taiwanese politics and Lin is running for one of the most important positions in the country. Politicians regularly put their alma mater and education level in campaign ads as a demonstration of competence, and people pay attention. Though President Tsai Ing-wen and Lin have dismissed the claims against him, November will show how important academic credentials are to the people of Taoyuan.