With Taiwan's year-end local elections counting down, negotiations between the Kuomintang and the Taiwan People's Party over cooperation in Hsinchu County have broken down — bad news for both parties' electoral prospects, and an opening for smaller parties.

• The blue and white camps failed to reach agreement on the two posts of Hsinchu County magistrate and Zhubei mayor, and their cooperation has collapsed.
• New Power Party chair Wang Wan-yu criticised the two parties' approach as a one-for-one trade like buying groceries — a carve-up of spoils rather than genuine cooperation.
• She said the two party chairs and their candidates were squabbling like primary school children, treating voters as bargaining chips.
• The breakdown could spill over and hit the blue and white camps' overall election prospects in other counties and cities.
• Wang Wan-yu herself is not running for Zhubei mayor, and will instead campaign for the small-party alliance "Taiwan Forward", setting her sights on the 2028 legislative elections.

Outlook: If the blue and white camps cannot patch up their talks in other constituencies, the year-end elections could leave the Democratic Progressive Party reaping the benefits around Hsinchu.