Taiwan's ruling DPP has locked in its candidate for the Yilan county chief race, a sign the party is trying to hold one of its traditional strongholds.

• Lin Kuo-chang formally registered to run for Yilan county magistrate, backed by a crowd of supporters and party officials.
• He staged the registration as a "land dragon boat" march, with party colleagues pulling the boat to the county government building to show the DPP is united behind him.
• He visited Yilan's city god temple first, drawing hundreds of people chanting for a "magistrate for all citizens."
• His wife, Wang Chia-chen, appeared in public for the first time and said he is ready for the job.
• He promised to walk all 237 villages in the county over the next 87 days before the vote.

Outlook: The race in Yilan is heating up, and Lin will spend the coming months campaigning village by village ahead of the local elections.