With Taiwan's year-end local elections entering the final stretch, the governing Democratic Progressive Party has begun tightening internal messaging — bad news for party figures hoping to seize the narrative by riding shifts in the polls.

• Lai Ching-te has asked candidates and party officeholders not to over-interpret changes in the election picture, and to respect the pace set by each local campaign headquarters.
• This week is the candidate registration period, with less than three months to go before polling day. Former President Tsai Ing-wen accompanied the party's Taipei and Keelung candidates as they registered, and has taken over as chair of the Keelung campaign headquarters.
• The latest polls show Lai Ching-te's approval rating rebounding to 46 percent, with disapproval falling, easing some of the pressure on his administration.
• The Kuomintang caucus publicly bowed in apology after its cuts and freezes to the Presidential Office budget cost a sheltered workshop its mooncake orders — a loss of points ahead of the vote.
• The government has rolled out policy sweeteners: a growth allowance for children aged 0 to 18, worth NT$5,000 per person per month, has been written into next year's budget.

Outlook: Over the next three months the campaign will be driven by local street canvassing and by voters buying into policy offerings, with clashes between the blue and green camps likely to keep intensifying.