Taiwan's political infighting is heating up ahead of local elections, with opposition leaders slamming the ruling party's use of recalls and procedural blocks as damage to democratic norms — bad news for cross-party cooperation ahead of the vote.

• Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu compared Taiwan's democracy to a man needing a kidney tonic, criticizing the ruling party for mass recalls of opposition lawmakers and the Executive Branch's refusal to formally sign off on passed legislation.
• A separate scandal is growing: Taiwan's overseas affairs agency is accused of spending over NT$10 million in public funds on a farewell and birthday party for its outgoing minister, who already resigned over a separate favoritism scandal involving her family.
• Opposition lawmakers are demanding the Taipei mayoral candidate who chairs the legislature's foreign affairs oversight committee explain why she didn't catch the spending; she says she'll question it once the legislature reconvenes.
• Taipei's mayor faced online mockery for looking awkward while helping clean up storm damage, with critics saying it looked staged, while his opponent said disaster relief shouldn't be turned into a campaign fight.
• A land-use welfare law passed by the opposition-controlled legislature, which shifts elderly health insurance subsidy costs onto the central government, is also causing friction between party candidates over who should pay.

Outlook: Expect the recall and spending scandals to dominate campaign attacks over the next month as Taiwan heads toward its local elections.