With the new year, election season has arrived in Taiwan. Parliamentary and presidential elections loom in the next three months. As always, the government in Beijing will be watching keenly. The first contest, on January 12th, is for Taiwan's legislature. The opposition Nationalist Party, the Kuomintang (kmt), which favours better relations with the mainland, is expected to retain its majority. The kmt hopes a decisive victory will give it momentum for the big prize, the presidency, to be decided on March 22nd. Ousted in 2000 after five decades in power, the kmt is desperate to win it back. Its hopes were raised on December 28th when a court rejected an appeal against the acquittal on corruption charges of Ma Ying-jeou, the party's former chairman. This cleared him to contest the presidency.
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