Taiwan's opposition KMT is heading into the Taitung county race with its candidate under a legal cloud, a fight her party frames as political persecution.

• Taitung county council speaker Wu Hsiu-hua signed up to run for county magistrate, backed by a crowd of KMT officials and local mayors.
• She acknowledged facing legal pressure but insisted she has broken no laws and will win anyway.
• Current magistrate Rao Ching-ling and former magistrate Huang Chien-ting both stood with her, saying courts should not be used to knock out election rivals.
• Huang went further, accusing the ruling DPP of routinely using prosecutors against opponents — a charge that turns the local race into a national fight over judicial independence.
• Wu wants the campaign to shift back to policy and who can better run the county, with 87 days left before the vote.

Outlook: The legal case will likely shadow the campaign to the end, and the KMT will keep using it to rally Taitung voters against the ruling party.