By Austin Ramzy (’03), TIME Asia
December 01, 2006

To the boom of fireworks and the blare of high-volume slogans from a pair of loudspeaker trucks, Chen Chu storms into the Chukuang Market. Her curly afro is clearly visible in front of her two dozen supporters as she plows past the rows of parked scooters, the squid cooking on outdoor grills, and the children riding in circles on a miniature electric train. Chen, 56, a veteran activist and former political prisoner, is running for mayor of Taiwan’s second-largest city, Kaohsiung — and tonight she appears intent on shaking the hand of every hotpot eater, bra seller and pachinko player in this small outdoor market.

She’ll need to. Chen’s Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has occupied the mayor’s office in this port city for the past eight years, and as her party’s candidate Chen would normally be the odds-on favorite to take the position. But these are not normal times. The DPP is under siege. Its top elected official, President Chen Shui-bian, has been under pressure to resign ever since his wife, Wu Shu-chen, was indicted on Nov. 3 on embezzlement and forgery charges. Prosecutors said they have evidence to charge President Chen too, but he enjoys immunity while in office. The scandal has raised questions about long-term damage to the President’s party. Politicians and analysts are looking to the Dec. 9 mayoral elections in Taipei and Kaohsiung for an indication of how badly the DPP has been wounded, and whether the party’s problems could carry on to legislative elections next year and the presidential vote in 2008. “If the DPP could pull it out in either one of those races people would say, ‘See, it’s not completely over for the DPP, they still have some support and they haven’t completely lost their mojo,’” says Shelley Rigger, an expert on Taiwan at Davidson College in North Carolina. “If they lose both, their mojo will be indeed very hard to see. They were clobbered in local elections last year. If they lose these two big cities, that’s going to be evidence that the public has really turned against them.”

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