Taiwan’s voters go to the polls on Saturday to choose a new president and parliament.

This year an unusual candidate is running for MP. Freddy Lim is the lead singer of the Taiwanese heavy-metal band Chthonic.

Tattooed, pony tailed and the front man for Asia’s biggest death metal band, it’s clear Freddy Lim is not your average politician.

The 39-year-old is running for one of 113 seats up for grabs in Taiwan’s parliamentary elections Saturday the same day the island picks a new president.

As he does with his music, he hopes to give voice to the island’s young people, many of whom fear a future under the influence of China.

For his campaign photos, he’s suited up and pinned his long hair back so it’s barely visible but Lim, and his newly formed party, has unsettled many in Taiwan’s political establishment, who desperately need the younger voters he appeals to.

His opponents don’t seem to know how to handle his counter-cultural appeal.

Lin Yu-Fang, the ruling party incumbent in the Taipei district Lim is contesting, on Friday called on voters not to elect a candidate “who has hair that is longer than a woman’s,” according to the Taipei Times newspaper.

The Indian Panorama spoke to Anny Yu who is an American citizen from Taiwan, she welcomes the change in political discourse and believes a long awaited good change will come with his (& New Power party – NPP) win.

China has claimed sovereignty over Taiwan since the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949 when, as the Communists swept to power, the defeated Nationalist government moved to the island.

China insists that other nations cannot have official relations with both countries at once, which has led to the diplomatic isolation of Taiwan. However, Taiwan has firm links with the US, from which it buys a great deal of its arms.

Despite China’s efforts to blackball the country, Taiwan has become one of Asia’s big success stories as one of the world’s top producers of computer technology.