With the Kaohsiung mayoral race entering its final stretch, DPP candidate Lai Jui-lung has secured organised backing from Hakka associations — positive news for his campaign.

• The Taiwan Hakka Alliance's Kaohsiung support headquarters was formally established, with more than 600 members of the Hakka community turning out to show their support for Lai Jui-lung.
• Kaohsiung has a Hakka population of over 400,000, with pockets of voters stretching from Meinong and Liouguei to Fengshan and Sanmin — a bloc that cannot be ignored.
• Lai Jui-lung set out three major policies: reviving the Hakka language, preserving Hakka culture and cultivating young talent, and integrating industries in Hakka townships to build a Kaohsiung Hakka brand.
• He stressed that he would continue Chen Chi-mai's "Hakka everywhere" approach, and pointed to his own record in pushing for amendments to the Hakka Basic Act and in making Hakka a national language.

Outlook: With roughly 99 days to go until polling day, the campaigns' efforts to court ethnic-bloc votes will only intensify.