Taiwan's Yilan county race is now a close head-to-head contest, with neither major party holding a clear edge ahead of the year-end vote.

• Five candidates registered, but the fight is really between the DPP's Lin Kuo-chang and the KMT's Wu Tsung-hsien.
• Yilan was a DPP stronghold for decades until the KMT won it in 2018, and the sitting KMT magistrate has been suspended since late 2024 after a corruption conviction.
• Lin is running as a local lawyer with 30 years of community work, banking on the county's biggest vote base in Yilan City plus green-leaning townships.
• Wu, born in Taipei, is fighting a "parachuted in" label by stressing family ties to the area and distancing himself from the suspended magistrate.
• Wu is also tying a tainted-cooking-oil case to the local race and painting Lin as a puppet of the central government.

Outlook: Expect close-quarters campaigning and sharper attacks from both sides, with the result likely too close to call until ballots are counted.