Taiwan's opposition KMT is entering the heat of its local election campaign, and party chair Cheng Li-wun is projecting confidence that momentum is on their side.

• Candidate registration for Taiwan's local elections opened, with most KMT candidates signing up within a two-day window seen as auspicious.
• Cheng joined Hsinchu Mayor Ann Kao as she registered for re-election and will accompany the party's Hsinchu County candidate next.
• She pressed the party's standing committee to throw everything into campaign support, saying unity through election day will deliver strong results.
• A separate fight flared over the legislature cutting the presidential office's discretionary budget, which killed its Mid-Autumn gift box orders from sheltered workshops for disabled workers.
• Cheng stepped in personally, ordering nearly 10,000 gift boxes from 20 of those workshops at her own expense rather than the party's, citing tight KMT finances.

Outlook: Campaigning intensifies from here, with the KMT betting that current momentum holds through the vote.