Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) won the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) nomination for the Kaohsiung mayoral race this afternoon (March 7) beating out three other candidates.

The DPP nominee is widely expected to become the mayor of the party stronghold of Kaohsiung. The seat will be vacated after the retirement of long-time mayor Chen Chu (陳菊), also of the DPP.

The DPP's Kaohsiung office told radio station ICRT that the formal nomination process would occur on March 14.

The former doctor is the current DPP party spokesman and led in opinion polls before the primary. He has the support of several influential blue-collar labor associations. and was the city's acting mayor in 2005 after Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) stepped down from the role to serve premier under president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁).

The DPP determines it's candidates in an open primary using telephone polls conducted by three polling agencies. Only landline telephones are called.

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