FAR EAST CORRESPONDENT — Forget Christmas: if you’re a Taiwanese activist, the best time to open your presents is during a close presidential election race likely to be won on the margins. Ahead of January’s polls, nationalist Kuomintang incumbent Ma Ying-jeou and chief rival Democratic Progressive party chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen have ditched the traditional Taiwanese political playbook and gone for support from aboriginal, landowner, gay, women, animal and environmental rights groups. Cain Nunns writes for The Guardian Weekly.