Candidate registration for Taiwan's year-end local elections has opened, and Kuo Hsi, chairman of the Taiwan Mahjong Biggest Party, was first in line to register a bid for Taipei mayor, opening fire on the candidates of both major parties.

• Kuo Hsi is the first person to register as a candidate for Taipei mayor, campaigning on a "genuinely anti-communist" platform.
• He singled out incumbent mayor Chiang Wan-an as having departed from Chiang Ching-kuo's anti-communist stance, and questioned his surname.
• He also criticised legislators Fu Kun-chi, Wang Hong-wei and Yeh Yuan-chih as being close to the Chinese Communist Party.
• Of Puma Shen, the Democratic Progressive Party's drafted candidate, he said he is a good person but lacks political sensitivity and is not suited to politics.
• He is campaigning on his record of running seven companies, arguing that governing a city and running a business follow the same principles.

Outlook: The Taipei mayoral race is set to become a three-way contest between the Kuomintang, the DPP and smaller parties, with anti-communist credentials and candidates' qualifications the main points of attack and defence going forward.