Taiwan's year-end local elections have reached fever pitch, with the KMT, the DPP and the TPP trading moves, and the race putting pressure on the chairs of both major parties.

• Ko Wen-je said the 2026 campaign hinges on New Taipei and Kaohsiung: if the green camp takes New Taipei, KMT chair Cheng Li-wun will have to step down; if the blue camp captures Kaohsiung, the DPP will also have to change leaders.
• Ko Wen-je joined KMT Kaohsiung candidate Ko Chih-en for a joint street canvass, saying bluntly that the Kaohsiung race was "far too dull" and suggesting she bring in Huang Kuo-chang as campaign general director and adopt a more aggressive approach.
• New Taipei is the pivotal battleground, where a poll commissioned by the green camp shows Su Chiao-hui with a narrow lead over Lee Szu-chuan, by a margin of less than 5 percentage points.
• The Taipei mayoral contest has turned acrimonious: a controversy over Puma Shen's fundraising has been reported to the Control Yuan, while the KMT has filed a complaint alleging that the wallpaper on Premier Cho Jung-tai's phone violates the Election and Recall Act.
• Online disinformation has begun to surface, with one man summoned for questioning and released on bail for fabricating the content of a polling phone call; separately, whether the universal cash handout should be NT$10,000 or NT$20,000 has also become a point of contention between the government and the opposition.

Outlook: The two hard-fought races in New Taipei and Kaohsiung will determine the political survival of the blue and green party chairs, and campaign attacks and investigations into disinformation will only grow more intense.