Taiwan's national security officials say at least 15 candidates in November's local elections are members of or closely tied to the pro-Beijing China Unification Promotion Party, a warning sign for the integrity of the vote and for anyone worried about Chinese influence in Taiwan's grassroots politics.

• Only two of the 15 are openly running under the party's banner; the rest are running as independents or under other party labels.
• Officials think the candidates are hiding the link because the party openly backs unification by force and the Interior Ministry has asked the Constitutional Court to dissolve it.
• The party is accused of working with Chinese influence operations, buying votes through China-funded trips, and years of violent crime by its members.
• Several of the candidates have past charges for fraud, intimidation, vote-buying, or assault, and officials warn the races risk being tainted by both foreign money and local organized crime.
• Separately, the Changhua county council speaker and his father were jailed pending trial over vote-buying suspicions, adding to worries about dirty money before the election.

Outlook: Security agencies will keep watching these races and are urging voters to report intimidation or vote-buying, while the court's decision on dissolving the party could reshape how openly pro-unification groups operate in Taiwan.