# Twu Shiing-jer

Twu Shiing-jer (Chinese: 涂醒哲; pinyin: Tú Xǐngzhé; Wade–Giles: T'u$^2$ Hsing$^3$-che$^2$; born 17 June 1951) is a Taiwanese politician and physician. He was the minister of the Department of Health from 2002 to 2003 and later served in the Legislative Yuan from 2008 to 2012. He was the Mayor of Chiayi City from 25 December 2014 to 25 December 2018.

## Early life and education

Twu was born in Puzi, Chiayi County, to Tu Bing-rong, a mathematics teacher, and Tu Hou Cai. He has four brothers and sisters. In 1969, Twu graduated from National Chiayi Senior High School.
Twu graduated with a Bachelor of Medicine (B.M.) in 1976 and a Master of Public Health (M.P.H.) in 1978 from National Taiwan University. He then earned his Ph.D. in public health in 1995 from the University of California, Los Angeles, in the United States.

## Health minister

Twu succeeded Lee Ming-liang as minister of the Department of Health on 1 September 2002 and resigned on 16 May 2003.

## Mayor of Chiayi City
### 2009 Chiayi City mayor election

Twu joined the 2009 Republic of China local elections for the position of Chiayi City mayor. The elections were held on 5 December 2009. He eventually lost to Kuomintang candidate Huang Min-hui.
2009 Chiayi City Mayoralty Election Result :
| No. | Candidate | Party | Votes | Percentage |
| 1 | Huang Min-hui | KMT | 69,962 | 52.20% |
| 2 | Lin Sheng-fen (林聖芬) | Independent | 2,801 | 2.09% |
| 3 | Twu Shiing-jer | DPP | 61,268 | 45.71% |

### 2014 Chiayi City mayor election

Twu won a party primary held in March 2014, and was named the Democratic Progressive Party candidate for the Chiayi City mayoralty. In September, Twu asked the voters to choose the best person, not the wealthiest, referring to politicians from Kuomintang who were mostly backed by their huge assets and government resources to work with business conglomerates run by wealthy families to control local political factions and influence election outcomes. He ran his campaign under the slogan Bold leadership, Chuluo, heading up for Taiwan (氣魄 諸羅 台灣頭). Chiayi was a part of Chuluo County until 1787 when it was renamed.
Twu was elected as the Mayor of Chiayi City after winning the 2014 Chiayi City mayoralty election held on 29 November 2014.
2014 Chiayi City Mayoralty Election Result :
| No. | Candidate | Party | Votes | Percentage |
| 1 | Chen Hsiu-li (陳秀麗) | Independent | 633 | 0.44% |
| 2 | Chen Tai-shan (陳泰山) | Independent | 786 | 0.54% |
| 3 | Chen Yi-chen (陳以真) | KMT | 66,108 | 45.50% |
| 4 | Twu Shiing-jer | DPP | 74,698 | 51.41% |
| 5 | Hsu Wen-chien (許文建) | Independent | 330 | 0.23% |
| 6 | Lin Shi-han (林詩涵) | People Democratic Front | 2,747 | 1.89% |

### 2018 Chiayi City mayor election

2018 Democratic Progressive Party Chiayi City mayoral primary results :
| Candidates | Place | Result |
| Twu Shiing-jer | Nominated | Walkover |
2018 Chiayi City mayoral results :
| No. | Candidate | Party | Votes | Percentage | |
| 1 | Hsiao Shui-li | Independent | 25,572 | 17.98% | |
| 2 | Huang Min-hui | Kuomintang | 58,558 | 41.18% | |
| 3 | Huang Hung Chen Taiwan Ah Chen World Great Person Rich President (黃宏成台灣阿成 世界偉人財神總統) | Independent | 1,822 | 1.28% | |
| 4 | Twu Shiing-jer | Democratic Progressive Party | 56,256 | 39.56% | |
| Total voters | Total voters | Total voters | 212,843 | 212,843 | 212,843 |
| Valid votes | Valid votes | Valid votes | 142,208 | 142,208 | 142,208 |
| Invalid votes | Invalid votes | Invalid votes | | | |
| Voter turnout | Voter turnout | Voter turnout | 66.81% | 66.81% | 66.81% |