Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu will run for the 2020 presidential election. There have been rumors that he would take time off from his mayoral duties to focus on his presidential campaign. In response, Han said he will announce his plan once it's confirmed.


While Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu was attending a road safety brief session, a city councilor said Han plans to start an unpaid leave from October 14 or 15 for his presidential campaign, and he will also be absent from the interpellation session in city council.

I'll certainly inform the city council before taking a leave. And I'll follow the legal procedure when taking the leave. I'll inform the public when it happens.

Han did not disclose the exact dates on which he would take a leave to run his campaign or his itinerary for a possible visit to the United States. Former New Taipei Mayor Eric Chu ever took three months off in 2016 to run for president.

I have served in public office for a long time, and my seniority allowed me about 60 days of off-days each year. I respect Han's decision. But I believe one has to be 100 percent devoted in the last phase of his presidential campaign.

The presidential election is less than 100 days away. Han recently said that he has spent his weekdays working on managing the City of Kaohsiung, while spending weekends on preparing for his campaign. Many wonder if Han will take a leave to focus on his presidential campaign as his support rating began to slip. Though Han hasn't announced any plans, the KMT headquarter has begun its preparation. KMT Chairperson Wu Den-yih recently hosted a ceremony where senior officials called for solidarity among all party members in an effort to regain power in the upcoming election.

Since Han won the party primary fair and square, he will run for president on behalf of the KMT. We'll must work together towards the same goal and fight for every single vote.

Han's campaign office has commissioned a lawyer to file a lawsuit against media personality Huang Kuang-chin for offenses against reputation and credit. Huang responded in a Facebook post saying that he will fight the case with everything he has.



高雄市長韓國瑜出席道安會報，不過，現在卻有議員爆料，韓國瑜將從10月14日或15日開始請假，一直到總統大選前，也會缺席市政總質詢。

高雄市長 韓國瑜表示：「請假的時候一定會跟議會來溝通，一旦請假之後，一定會依照法定的程序來辦理，到時候正式請假的時候，一定會跟各界來說明報告。」

韓國瑜話說得保留，日期還沒敲定，訪美行程也不透露。而2016年前新北市長朱立倫，同樣帶職參選總統，也曾請了三個月的假。

前新北市長 朱立倫表示：「因為我的公務的資歷比較深，所以包括年度的休假，應該是有60幾天吧！尊重韓市長的安排，但是我相信，就一位總統候選人來講的話，最後的這個階段，一定是要全心全力的來投入。」

距離大選剩不到100天，韓國瑜雖然喊出平日拚市政、假日拚國政，如今市政、國政兩頭燒，面對民調滑落，是否決定請假？轉守為攻，韓國瑜話沒說死，留下想像空間，但國民黨中央已動起來，黨主席吳敦義親自主持2020大選誓師，布局各地方黨部組織架構，力求重返執政。

國民黨主席 吳敦義表示：「既然用最公正的初選，選出韓國瑜，代表中國國民黨競選總統，我們大家一定要同心協力，每一張票都要設法爭取到位，讓韓國瑜能夠當選。」

韓國瑜競選辦公室也同步委任律師，向媒體人黃光芹提出七項妨害名譽告訴，轉被動為主動，不過，黃光芹也在臉書回應，寫下粉身碎骨，傾家蕩產，在所不惜，砲火不減。