The proposed joint bid between two of Taiwan's opposition parties looks to be in jeopardy ahead of a crucial Nov. 24 deadline.

If the representatives of the Kuomintang (KMT) and the smaller Taiwan People's Party (TPP) cannot reach an agreement to cooperate, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate seems poised to take advantage.

What happened

Taiwan will hold its general election in Jan. 2024. Incumbent president Tsai Ing-wen of the DPP will not run again, so regardless of the result, Taiwan will see a new president voted in.

There appear to be four major candidates, ahead of a Nov. 24, 2023 registration deadline to stand in the election.

The DPP is fielding William Lai Ching-te, the current Vice President, while KMT are putting up the mayor of New Taipei City, Hou Yu-ih.

Meanwhile, the TPP are fielding former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je, and independent Terry Gou also looks likely to weigh in.

If all four candidates stand in the election, it was possible for the anti-government vote to be split, thereby paving the way for the DPP to win another term.

Coalition bid proposed

On Nov. 15, the opposition announced a historic coalition bid, seemingly in an effort to avoid that circumstance and boost their chances of winning.

After "months" of negotiations, KMT and TPP seemingly came to an agreement to run a united campaign.

They pledged to form a coalition government if elected, and select cabinet ministers from both parties.

Some polls suggested that a joint KMT and TPP bid could defeat the DPP's candidate.

The two parties would use polling results to determine whether Hou or Ko would lead the ballot as presidential candidate, and who would serve as running mate, Taipei Times reported.

Who will lead the united front?

However, the joint bid hit a snag.

The proposed official announcement for Nov. 18 did not materialise. According to Bloomberg:

"Discussions between the Taiwan People’s Party and the Kuomintang through the night into Saturday did not yield any agreement on how to best interpret opinion poll results over which party’s candidate should lead the combined campaign as the presidential nominee. The talks faltered over how to calculate the survey margin of error."

The prospect of cooperation has not entirely gone up in smoke, with Ko reportedly saying the two sides just needed more time to come to an agreement.

Reuters reported on Nov. 18 that Ko told reporters "anything was possible" before the Nov. 24 deadline, but he could not be expected to "surrender" to KMT on the polling issue.

On Nov. 21, Focus Taiwan reported that Hou would wait for Ko "until the last moment".

Meanwhile, the DPP ticket has formally registered for the election, with Lai selecting former U.S. envoy Hsiao Bi-khim as his running mate.

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Top image from Hou Yu-ih and Ko Wen-je's Facebook pages.