The breakdown of cooperation talks between the Kuomintang and the Taiwan People's Party in Hsinchu County is bad news for the KMT's electoral prospects and could hand the Democratic Progressive Party an easy gain in the county magistrate race.

• KMT Hsinchu County magistrate candidate Hsu Hsin-ying now faces threefold pressure: unfinished party integration, the loss of TPP votes, and continued DPP attacks.
• Discontent among TPP supporters could lead them to simply stay home, or even switch to the DPP's Cheng Chao-fang.
• Internal KMT estimates suggest the worst-case outcome would be winning the Zhubei City mayoralty while losing Hsinchu County as a whole.
• The fallout from the collapse appears to have spread to Yilan, where some TPP supporters say they can no longer bring themselves to back KMT candidate Wu Tsung-hsien.
• Party Chair Cheng Li-wun has been criticized for failing to broker even township- and city-level coordination, raising questions about the leadership's ability to manage the party from the center.

Outlook: If Hsu Hsin-ying cannot repair the rifts left by the primary and win back the trust of TPP supporters in the near term, the KMT's position in Hsinchu County will continue to slide.