The Changhua County magistrate race has turned into a three-way contest, with the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) facing internal damage from the departure of one of its own veterans — bad news for the green camp, and an added opening for the Kuomintang (KMT).

• Former Changhua City mayor Chiu Chien-fu withdrew from the DPP after failing to secure the party's nomination, and has collected registration papers from the election commission in preparation for an independent run for county magistrate.
• He said he continued to face pressure even after leaving the party, and that a national policy adviser to the Presidential Office personally telephoned him the day before to urge him to "think again," but that his position remains unchanged.
• The DPP stressed that it is not worried about splitting the vote, and countered that he had broken a promise made before the gods to support the party's nominee; he responded that a draft nomination is not the same as a primary.
• The latest opinion poll shows the DPP's Chen Su-yueh leading the KMT's Wei Ping-cheng by about 17 percentage points, though nearly 30 percent of voters remain undecided.
• The pre-election atmosphere is tense: the home of a senior party member backing Chiu Chien-fu was splattered with pig manure recently, and police have identified a suspect and opened an investigation.

Outlook: Chiu Chien-fu is expected to complete his registration in early September. With both the blue and green camps working to consolidate their support, undecided voters will decide the outcome of the three-way race.