Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) approved Deputy Mayor Lee Shu-chuan’s (李四川) resignation scheduled for next Tuesday, one day before the KMT is scheduled to announce its mayoral nominees for New Taipei.

Lee is widely seen as a potential candidate in the next New Taipei City mayoral race. He previously stated that he would resign from his position as deputy mayor to run in New Taipei, where he is a registered resident, to “prepare for the next stage” of his political career.

Lee previously served as Cabinet secretary-general in 2014, and was appointed Kaohsiung deputy mayor in 2015. He said he worked a lot in urban development and governance while serving as the deputy mayor for three special municipalities, but hasn’t had the chance to run a city directly as mayor.

New Taipei Mayor Hou Yu-ih (侯友宜) said he will fully support Lee, who is considered the KMT’s preferred candidate.

KMT Organizational Development Committee head Lee Che-hua (李哲華) said late last month that the KMT and TPP would set up a task force to discuss coordination mechanisms and field joint opposition candidates.

Both the TPP and DPP have already announced their nominees for the New Taipei mayoral race. TPP nominated its chairman, Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌), and DPP chose Legislator Su Chiao-hui (蘇巧慧) as their candidate in the race.

Lee said that if he were to secure the KMT’s endorsement, he would want to work with TPP Chairman Huang. Huang previously stated that he does not intend to serve as deputy mayor alongside Lee.

This Thursday, Taipei Mayor Chiang said cooperation between Taipei and New Taipei City would be the best departing gift for Lee.