A rift inside Taiwan's KMT is on public display in Changhua, where the party's most reliable local vote-winner keeps refusing to appear alongside the new party chair — bad news for the party's chances of holding the county.

• Changhua magistrate Wang Hui-mei has now skipped four campaign events with KMT chair Cheng Li-wen, including one held in her own county.
• Wang is term-limited and has never lost an election in over 30 years in politics, giving her unusual leverage inside the party.
• Locals in her hometown of Lukang say she simply refuses to be told what to do, and the more pressure she gets, the more she digs in.
• The absences leave the party's candidate for magistrate, Wei Ping-cheng, without the endorsement that would normally open doors to local business and community groups.
• Whether the friction is with Wei's family, with Cheng, or both, nobody expects Wang to fold.

Outlook: Expect Wang to keep her distance as the county race heats up, leaving the KMT's candidate to build his own local network.