Taipei: Taiwan's main opposition Kuomintang (KMT) and the smaller Taiwan People's Party (TPP) on Wednesday approved a cooperation agreement for the local elections later this year, under which the two parties agreed to jointly field candidates. The agreement was separately passed by the KMT's Central Standing Committee and the TPP's Central Committee.According to Focus Taiwan, the "nominate first, coordinate later" model outlined in the agreement means the two parties will prioritize incumbent mayors or county magistrates seeking re-election. The document specifies that the parties will jointly nominate candidates only in cities and counties where mutual agreement has been reached. In certain jurisdictions, candidates will be chosen based on opinion polls.The agreement further specifies that unweighted samples must accurately reflect distributions of gender, age, education level, and geographic area, passing a representativeness test with a p-value below 0.05. Additional details, such as polling firms, sa mple size, methodology, and weighting, will be finalized later.The pact also includes provisions for each party to assign three representatives to aid communication in future negotiations. A joint KMT-TPP campaign group will be set up to support candidates across the nation.During the KMT Central Standing Committee meeting, KMT Chairperson Cheng Li-wun expressed hope that the agreement would help secure victory in the November 28 local elections and establish a foundation for future cooperation in the 2028 presidential election. Meanwhile, TPP Chairman Huang Kuo-chang stated that the parties will begin coordination in three areas where both have nominated candidates: New Taipei, Yilan County, and Chiayi City.