Taiwan's opposition KMT has thrown out two young critics of its leadership, a move that deepens the party's split ahead of the November local elections.

• The KMT expelled former youth department deputy director Ting Yu and suspended former party spokesman Hsiao Ching-yen for three years.
• Both had repeatedly attacked party policy and chair Cheng Li-wun in public; 106 party delegates signed a motion to punish them.
• Ting Yu hit back by calling the leadership a "fake KMT" and a branch office of the Chinese Communist Party in Taiwan.
• He urged voters to use the November 28 ballot to remove that faction from power.
• Online reaction ran heavily against the party, with many saying the KMT is driving out its own talent and pushing pro-Beijing figures to the front.

Outlook: The purge hardens the fight between the KMT's Beijing-friendly leadership and its pro-Taiwan wing, and both sides will now take that fight into the November 28 local elections.