Taiwan's opposition camp has fallen out: talks on blue-white cooperation for the Zhubei mayoral election have broken down, and the internet celebrity Kuan Chang, a long-time backer of the blue camp, has publicly turned on it — bad news for the Kuomintang.

• The Kuomintang and the Taiwan People's Party are each fielding their own candidate in Zhubei, and cooperation has formally collapsed.
• Kuan Chang spent two consecutive days railing against the party on livestream, saying the KMT had "kicked away the ladder" and betrayed its supporters, and calling on voters to bring the party down.
• He is also unhappy with the KMT's concessions on budget review in the Legislative Yuan, questioning why a party that took voters' ballots does not dare to act as a check on the governing Democratic Progressive Party.
• He predicts that the KMT's internal factions will descend into a bruising fight over spoils ahead of the 2028 presidential election.

• Taichung, by contrast, struck the opposite note: Huang Kuo-chang, Lu Shiow-yen and Chiang Chi-chen appeared on stage together hand in hand, stressing that "cooperation benefits both sides."

Outlook: Ahead of the year-end local elections, blue-white cooperation will be negotiated county by county and city by city. The rift in Zhubei could split the opposition's base and dampen willingness to vote.