TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taipei City Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) finished last in a poll ranking the popularity of the country’s 22 mayors and county commissioners, reports said Tuesday (May 30).

Only three mayors finished with an approval rate of less than 50% in the annual survey by Global Views Monthly. Kuomintang (KMT) member Chiang received 46.3%, with the KMT mayor of Keelung City, Hsieh Kuo-liang (謝國樑), finishing ahead of him with 47.1%, and Hsinchu City Mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) of the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) ending up with 49.3%, the Liberty Times reported.

For all three local leaders, it was the first Global Views poll since they were elected last November and took office Dec. 25. The most popular local executive was Chiayi County Commissioner Weng Chang-liang (翁章樑) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) with 81.0%, followed by the KMT mayor of neighboring Chiayi City, Huang Ming-hui (黃敏惠), with 77.8%. Weng was also the only local leader with a disapproval rate of less than 10%.

The only presidential nominee on the list, New Taipei City Mayor Hou Yu-ih (侯友宜), finished ninth overall and second on the list of six special municipality mayors. The KMT nominated him earlier this month as its candidate for the Jan. 13, 2024 presidential election. His approval rate of 71.4% also amounted to a drop of 11.8% from his level in the previous annual poll, according to Global Views.

The top performer for the special municipalities was Taichung City’s KMT mayor, Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕), who gained 10.7% from last year to end up at 72.6%.

Global Views conducted the opinion poll from March 1 to April 30, interviewing 14,272 people. The margin of error stood at 3.7%, except for the relatively sparsely populated island counties of Penghu and Kinmen, where it stood at 4.9%, and Lienchiang County or Matsu, where it reached 8%.