The city councillor election in Taipei's Songshan-Xinyi District is turning into a key battleground in the tussle between the Kuomintang (KMT) and the Taiwan People's Party (TPP) — bad news for the blue camp's incumbent councillors.

• KMT legislator Yeh Yuan-chih crossed into the district to accompany TPP candidate Hsu Fu on a street canvassing tour, even though the party's Taipei branch had previously said that Chiang Wan-an would not campaign for individual TPP candidates.
• Veteran media commentator Chen Hui-wen questioned whether blue-camp councillors in the same district, such as Tai Hsi-chin and Chin Hui-chu, have "too many votes to spare" that they can tolerate this kind of cross-party campaigning.
• The TPP is fielding only one candidate in each of Taipei's six councillor districts, concentrating its vote base. If Hsu Fu can turn out the core support that Ko Wen-je and Huang Shan-shan once commanded in the district, he has a chance of topping the poll.
• During the canvassing tour, local residents still heckled the candidate to his face, saying he never shows up except at election time.

Outlook: With only three months to go before the nine-in-one local elections, whether the blue and white camps cooperate or compete for the same votes will first be put to the test in Songshan-Xinyi.