The breakdown of KMT-TPP cooperation talks in Hsinchu County is a setback for Kuomintang candidate Hsu Hsin-ying, and good news for her Democratic Progressive Party rival.

• The Taiwan People's Party has ordered its members not to campaign for Hsu Hsin-ying, the KMT's candidate for Hsinchu County magistrate, with violators facing expulsion from the party at worst.
• The TPP's stated reason is that Hsu failed to honour her commitments, damaging two years of mutual trust between the two parties.
• Zhubei's population has grown to 220,000, two-thirds of them young tech-sector workers who moved there for jobs. These swing voters are seen as the ones who will decide the election.
• KMT legislator Lin Szu-ming said bluntly that Hsu has not worked Zhubei directly for eight years, and that with lingering resentment from the party primary and from the camp of Deputy Magistrate Chen Chien-hsien still unresolved, the KMT could end up winning the Zhubei mayoralty while losing the magistracy.
• KMT Deputy Secretary-General Li Che-hua, for his part, said senior figures from the two parties remain in close communication and that he is cautiously optimistic about the situation.

Outlook: Hsu Hsin-ying must move quickly to win back the trust of the TPP camp and of swing voters; otherwise, under the offensive from the DPP's Cheng Chao-fang, her original advantage may prove impossible to hold.