Internal efforts by the Kuomintang to unify behind its candidate in the Changhua County magistrate race have stalled once again — bad news for the party as it seeks to hold Changhua at the end of the year.

• Changhua County Magistrate Wang Hui-mei has now declined four times to appear at the same event as party chair Cheng Li-wun and party nominee Wei Ping-cheng.
• Wang said she learned that the party's central leadership had nominated Wei only from media reports while she was abroad.
• Legislator Hsieh I-feng, who had sought the nomination but was passed over, would say only that she would fulfil her obligations as a party member by helping with the campaign, and that for now her legislative work comes first.
• Wei Ping-cheng was specially drafted as a "fourth option," and there has been continuous infighting within the party since his nomination in May.
• The race is a three-way contest: Chen Su-yueh of the Democratic Progressive Party, Wei Ping-cheng of the Kuomintang, and former Changhua City Mayor Chiu Chien-fu, who left the party to run.

Outlook: if the KMT cannot resolve its internal feuding soon, a split vote in Changhua could work to the DPP's advantage.