TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Kuomintang (KMT) presidential candidate Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) committed another embarrassing gaffe on the campaign trail on Sunday (Jan. 5) when he blamed a female student's calves for causing his grades to drop while he was in junior high school.

On Sunday, Han participated in a campaign rally for KMT legislator Ko Chih-en (柯志恩) at Banqiao Stadium in New Taipei City. In his speech, Han confessed that the reason he was relegated to the lower achievement track at Banqiao's Municipal Haishangaoji Junior High School was that he had become infatuated with the legs of a female student who sat in front of him.

Han claimed that he was originally at the top of his class during his first year at the school. However, he said that during his second year, he became enamored with the "white and beautiful calves" of a female student who sat in front of him, causing his grades to "fall off a cliff," reported Liberty Times.

He said he was moved to the low-achievement track after the precipitous drop in his grades. He then closed by saying that he was very excited to be taking part in a campaign rally at his alma mater, which he never expected he would visit again 50 years later.

His comments caused a public uproar on social media, with political observer Huang Chuang-hsia (黃創夏) sarcastically writing on Facebook that if Han was elected president, it would be necessary to stipulate that all female civil servants wear long pants to prevent his administration from falling off a cliff.

In reference to Han's earlier comment that Taiwan had been bewitched after the tragic crash of a Black Hawk helicopter last week, Huang said that the KMT, not Taiwan, was "bewitched for selecting such a candidate."