Surprises and exciting finishes are the rule in Taiwan’s elections. In the months before the presidential election on March 22, Kuomintang (KMT) candidate Ma Ying-jeou led Democratic Progress Party (DPP) candidate Frank Hsieh Chang-ting in public opinion polls by as much as 20 percent, but the gap appeared to be shrinking as the vote approached. Several ethnically charged criticisms of Ma were eating into his lead.