Taiwanese politics seldom fails to surprise observers. Saturday's mayoral elections in Taipei and Kaohsiung were no exception: voters defied expectations that they would punish the ruling Democratic Progressive Party for blocking three attempts by the Kuomintang-led opposition to recall President Chen Shui-bian on corruption charges.
Voters in Kaohsiung ignored polls showing the KMT candidate well in the lead, and elected the DPP's Chen Chu - albeit by just over 1,000 votes. In Taipei, the KMT's Hau Lung-bin won as expected but received 100,000 votes less than his predecessor - KMT chairman Ma Ying-jeou - did in 2002. The DPP, in other words, actually gained support.
These results are being read in Taiwan as a shocking defeat for the KMT. But this reading needs to be tempered by noting that the DPP ran two very strong candidates. Ms Chen, a veteran political dissident who spent seven years in KMT jails in the 1980s, is a charismatic figure with the ability to connect emotionally with ordinary Taiwanese. Her opponent, Huang Chun-ying, is a bland KMT technocrat whose academic bearing seemed out of touch with Kaohsiung's working class electorate.
In Taipei, Mr Hau ran a conservative and strangely passive campaign, which allowed his DPP opponent, Frank Hsieh Chang-ting, to run a strong, grass-roots campaign. Mr Hsieh, a native of Taipei's Blacksmith's Street, worked Taipei's traditional markets and streets tirelessly, and built a young and passionate campaign organisation.
The results showed that the DPP still commands substantial support from what might be termed Taiwan's silent majority, and that its policies are much closer to mainstream Taiwanese opinion than had been thought.
The conventional narrative before Saturday was that moderate DPP voters were so disgusted with the allegations of corruption swirling around Mr Chen and his family that they would choose the squeaky-clean candidates fielded by the KMT.