With the mayoral elections for five special municipalities only one month away, campaign activities have heated up. Violent clashes between campaign workers and supporters of Taiwan's two major political camps were reported in Taichung City and Tainan City on Tuesday. Meanwhile, the results of an opinion poll published in Wednesday's United Daily News showed that if Taipei City voters were to go to the polls tomorrow, the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) challenger Su Tseng-chang would beat incumbent Mayor Hau Lung-bin by a narrow 51 percent to 49 percent margin. The following are excerpts from local media coverage of the electoral campaign. China Times: Clashes erupted Tuesday when Taichung City police tried to prevent a convoy of campaign vehicles of DPP mayoral candidate Su Jia-chyuan from entering the city hall complex in central Taiwan. A group of DPP city councilors first shouted from atop the vehicles that they wanted to enter City Hall to protest what they called the city government's failure to maintain 'administrative neutrality.' The group accused the city of repeatedly rejecting applications from Su's campaign office to hold rallies in city parks or at elementary schools. After getting down from their vehicles, they attempted to force their way into City Hall but were blocked by rows of police. In chaotic clashes, three DPP councilors said they sustained leg injuries after being pushed by police officers to the ground. The violent protest ended only after the city government agreed to allow the councilors to enter City Hall on the condition that they took off their campaign vests. The city councilors rushed to the mayor's office on the second floor but failed to meet Taichung Mayor Jason Hu, who according to his aides, was out on public business. Huang Ching-hsiao, director of the city government's Department of Construction, denied that the city government blocked the Su campaign's Oct. 5 application to hold a rally at the city's Gancheng Park. 'The application was approved Oct. 19, ' Huang said, asserting that the screening procedures took 14 days to complete. The Nov. 27 mayoral election in the central Taichung municipality to be formed by merging Taichung City and Taichung County later this year has Su challenging Hu's bid for re-election. The ruling Kuomintang has traditionally been stronger than the DPP in both Taichung City and Taichung County. Responding to Su's complaint that the city government illegally rejected his application to hold a rally at Kuangfu Elementary School, the Central Election Commission said Tuesday it does not have the authority to get involved in such disputes because existing election law does not contain relevant provisions. (Oct. 27, 2010). Liberty Times: Clashes also erupted between the rival camps in the southern city of Tainan Tuesday when KMT candidate Kuo Tien-tsai's campaign aides visited the campaign office of DPP rival Lai Ching-te to push for a Kuo-Lai debate on their policies. Chang Pi-chin, a spokeswoman for the Kuo campaign, stumbled after being pushed by Lai's supporters but was not injured. The conflict ended after police arrived at the scene. Lai described Chang's visit as grandstanding to raise Kuo's profile, because, according to Lai, the KMT was the party that prevented debates from being held between KMT and DPP hopefuls in the five special municipality elections on Nov. 27. Tainan is seen a DPP stronghold. (Oct. 27, 2010). United Daily News: Respondents to an election-related public opinion poll can be grouped into 'vocal' and 'silent' voters in terms of their willingness to express their voting preferences in public. According to the results of a telephone poll conducted by this paper between Oct. 23 and Oct. 24, incumbent Taipei City Mayor Hau Lung-bin led his DPP challenger Su Tseng-chang by a large margin, 48 percent to 37 percent. Compared with the results of a similar survey conducted a month ago, Hau's and Su's support ratings rose 7 percent and 4 percent, respectively, and the ratio of those unwilling to reveal their voting preferences narrowed from 26 percent to 14 percent. An in-depth analysis of the latest survey findings showed, however, that if the population characteristics and political attitudes of those who declined to answer the poll were taken into consideration, Su's support rate should reach 51 percent, higher than Hau's 49 percent. Nevertheless, it is still premature to come to any conclusion about the race's outcome because the gap fell within the poll's 3 percent margin of error, and voting is still a month away, during which many variables could affect the final results. (Oct. 27, 2010). 