Taiwan's opposition alliance between the KMT and the TPP has broken down over the Zhubei mayor race, a setback for both parties heading into the year-end local elections.

• Both parties will now register their own candidates in Zhubei, with the TPP running Chiu Chen-yuan and the KMT running Wu Hsu-chih.
• TPP chairman Huang Kuo-chang accuses KMT leader Cheng Li-wun and Hsinchu county candidate Hsu Hsin-ying of breaking a signed agreement.
• Ko Wen-je publicly rebuked Huang, warning that voter anger cannot be switched off just because party leaders change course.
• Fears are spreading that the split could infect other races, though both sides insist cooperation in New Taipei and Taichung still holds.
• Elsewhere, a former KMT county councillor quit the party to run as an independent in Changhua, turning that mayoral race into a three-way fight.

Outlook: With under three months to the elections, the Zhubei break may test whether opposition cooperation survives elsewhere or unravels ahead of 2028.