With 100 days remaining until Taiwan's 2026 local elections, the Taiwan Statebuilding Party's Wu Hsin-tai has formally declared her bid for a city councillor seat in Taipei's Neihu and Nangang districts — an uphill battle for a small party.

• Wu lost by 1,000 votes four years ago and is running again for a Neihu-Nangang council seat.
• She says the political fervour around resisting China and defending Taiwan has cooled steadily from its 2019-2020 peak, and calls this the most pressing problem.
• She sees the role of small parties as putting fairness and justice ahead of interests, and Taiwan ahead of party.
• She stresses that she does not rely on the resources of the major parties, having raised her own funds over four years to hold more than a hundred legal consultation sessions and dozens of medical talks.
• She criticises the use of unrealistic ideals to stir up voters as deeply unethical — like telling a terminally ill patient they are certain to recover.

Outlook: The next hundred days will be a key test of whether small parties can hold their ground as enthusiasm among pro-Taiwan voters fades.