A public falling-out inside Taiwan's KMT over who runs for Changhua county chief is bad news for the party's local election machine, and no one in the party has come to Wang Hui-mei's defense.

• Wang Hui-mei, the sitting Changhua county chief, says she learned twice from news reports that party headquarters planned to nominate lawyer Wei Ping-cheng.
• She says she called the chair, Cheng Li-wun, to ask for a delay, was told to wait for a call back, and waited two hours for a call that never came.
• Since that day the chair has not contacted her at all, and Wang broke down in tears describing herself as a loyal member with no influence.
• Critics say Cheng has now managed to offend Changhua's local factions in both the north and south of the county in one go.
• Wei is reportedly confident he will win because half of voters are undecided, an assumption Wang has repeatedly warned is too optimistic.

Outlook: Expect the rift to widen as the campaign starts, with talk that a long-loyal KMT figure could drift toward the opposition.