Mayoral candidate in Taiwan proposes legalising polygamy to tackle low fertility rate

A man running for mayor in Taiwan's New Taipei City has sparked controversy for his proposal that the city legalise polygamy to bring up Taiwan's low fertility rate.

Su Hui Huang, 49, is an independent candidate contesting in the city's mayoral election that will take place on Nov. 28, 2026.

He had previously shared his idea of encouraging two wives per husband, or two husbands per wife for unmarried people as one of the policy changes he advocates for during this election campaign.

As it had caught much attention then, he was asked by local media to clarify and elaborate more on this idea after drawing his ballot number on Oct. 27.

Very low fertility rate

Su acknowledged that his proposal was a "rather open-minded" approach, and explained that it is aimed at addressing the increasingly low fertility rate in Taiwan.

The total fertility rate — which estimates the average number of babies a woman is expected to have during her reproductive years — dropped significantly from 0.885 in 2024 to 0.695 in 2025, Taipei Times reported.

The number of births in Taiwan in 2025 fell for the 10th straight year to a record low of 107,812.

Due to the falling birthrate, Taiwan's National Development Council projected that Taiwan's population could nearly halve by 2075, according to Focus Taiwan.

"If [the fertility rate] continues like this, it will be terrible for us," Su said.

He thus proposed that the men be allowed to have two wives, and for gender equality, that the women also be allowed two husbands.

Second spouse must be unmarried

Su emphasised that he is not advocating for a person to have many spouses, but that it should be limited to two each.

He also clarified that the second husband or wife should be an unmarried person, not someone who was already married.

"They cannot be already married," he said. "Otherwise it would cause a lot of problems in society, and will definitely not be good for the next generation."

He noted that he could only propose such a policy idea in New Taipei City where he was running, and said he would leave it to the other cities and counties of Taiwan to decide if they wanted to adopt it as well.

Criticism

Many Taiwanese people online have criticised and mocked his proposal for not addressing the root of the birthrate problem.

"He doesn't understand that it's an issue of money?" one said.

"This has nothing to do with how many husbands or wives people have. The issue is simply that we cannot afford to have children," another wrote.

In New Taipei City, Su is running for mayor against the ruling Democratic Progressive Party candidate Su Chiao-hui, and the Kuomintang candidate Lee Shu-chuan.