New Power Party

The New Power Party (NPP) is a political party in Taiwan formed in early 2015. The party emerged from the Sunflower Student Movement in 2014, and advocates for universal human rights, civil and political liberties, as well as Taiwan independence/nationalism.[3][6][7] The party is a part of the political phenomenon known as the "Third Force" (第三勢力), in which new political parties, unaligned with traditional Pan-Green or Pan-Blue Coalitions, sought to provide an alternative in Taiwanese politics.[8] Nevertheless, the NPP's policies are very much aligned and closely matches the Pan-Green camp; thus the NPP cooperated with the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) against the Kuomintang (KMT) in the 2016 elections, going as far as not to run in traditional KMT strongholds to avoid competition with the DPP.[9] The party works in tandem with a perceived generational shift towards Taiwan-centrism as the new socio-cultural norm.[10]

Not to be confused with the New Party.
New Power Party

時代力量
LeaderHsu Yung-ming
SecretaryChen Meng-hsiu
Deputy LeadersKo I-chen
Lin Yu-kai
Chen Hui-min
Chen Wei-chung
Sabrina Lim
Chen Chih-ming
Tseng Wen-hsueh (曾玟學)
Hsu Yung-ming
Lin Yi-ying (林易瑩)
Hsiao Hsin-cheng
Founded25 January 2015
HeadquartersTaipei City, Taiwan
IdeologySocial democracy
Progressivism[1]
Left-wing populism[2]
Taiwanese nationalism[3]
Taiwanese independence[3]
Political positionCentre-left[4] to left-wing[5]
Colours          Yellow, black
Legislative Yuan
3 / 113
Municipal mayors
0 / 6
Magistrates/mayors
0 / 22
Councillors
16 / 912
Township/city mayors
0 / 204
Website
www.newpowerparty.tw
New Power Party
Chinese時代力量
Hanyu PinyinShídài Lìliàng
Literal meaningEra of Power

The party was started by Freddy Lim, lead vocalist of Taiwanese heavy metal band Chthonic,[11] veteran activist Michael Lin, human rights lawyers Lin Feng-cheng, Chiu Hsien-chih, and other prominent figures of the Sunflower Student Movement. Lim headed the party-building process, which saw the inclusion of Hung Tzu-yung, sister of the late Hung Chung-chiu, environmental lawyer Ko Shao-chen, and author-activist Neil Peng into the party. On 12 September 2015, the NPP was officially formed with the election of Huang Kuo-chang as executive leader, heading a leadership team of six deputy leaders.

The NPP won five legislative seats in the 2016 Taiwanese legislative election, three from constituency and two from party-list votes, beating out long-time third party People First Party. However, two of its members left the party in 2019. In the 2020 Taiwanese legislative election, NPP retained three seats.

Platform

The NPP aims to rewrite the Constitution of the Republic of China. The constitution operates under the assumption that the Republic governs all of China (including mainland China, which the ROC has not governed since 1949), to just refer to Taiwan.[11]

The NPP supports the legalization of same-sex marriage and is generally in favor of abolition of capital punishment. The NPP also takes a more leftist stance than the DPP in labor and welfare issues.[1]

History
  • The party was established on 25 January 2015.[12]

Leadership
Order Term Executive Leader Deputy Team Leader Leadership Team Assumed office Left office
1 1 Freddy Lim Lin Feng-cheng Freddy Lim
Neil Peng
Hsu Yung-ming
Lin Feng-cheng
Michael Lin
Huang Hsiu-chen (黃秀禎)		 25 January 2015 2 July 2015
2 Huang Kuo-chang 2 July 2015 25 March 2016
2 Freddy Lim
Ko I-chen
Kawlo Iyun Pacidal
Lin Feng-cheng
Michael Lin		 25 March 2016 January 2019
3 3 Chiu Hsien-chih Ko I-chen Freddy Lim
Hung Tzu-yung
Ko I-chen
Lin Yu-kai
Kawlo Iyun Pacidal
Chen Hui-min
Chen Wei-chung
Sabrina Lim
Chen Chih-ming
Tseng Wen-hsueh (曾玟學)
Hsu Yung-ming
Lin Yi-ying (林易瑩)
Hsiao Hsin-cheng		 1 March 2019 Chiu resigned 12 August 2019
Lim left the party on 1 August 2019, Hung on 13 August 2019
Kawlo's party membership was revoked on 2 September 2019
4 Hsu Yung-ming 21 August 2019

Election results

Legislative elections
Election Total seats won Total votes (party-list) Vote share (party-list) Change Election leader Status President
2020
3 / 113
 1,098,100 7.75% 2 seats Hsu Yung-ming 4th Party Tsai Ing-wen
2016
5 / 113
 744,315 6.11% 5 seats Huang Kuo-chang 3rd Party Tsai Ing-wen

In the 2016 Taiwan legislative election, the first contested by the party, the NPP won five seats in the Legislative Yuan, making it the third largest party there. Three of the winners gained constituency seats and two were elected through the party list. Freddy Lim and Hung Tzu-yung left the NPP in August 2019, though both remained independent members of the ninth Legislative Yuan. That same month, NPP legislator Kawlo Iyun Pacidal was suspended from the party. Kawlo, an at-large legislator, was replaced by Jang Show-ling in September 2019.

In the 2020 legislative elections, the New Power Party won three party list seats, occupied by Chen Jiau-hua, Chiu Hsien-chih, and Claire Wang.

Name Constituency Term
Freddy Lim 林昶佐 Taipei 5 2016–2020
Huang Kuo-chang 黃國昌 New Taipei 12 2016–2020
Hung Tzu-yung 洪慈庸 Taichung 3 2016–2020
Kawlo Iyun Pacidal 高潞·以用·巴魕剌 Proportional Representation 2016–2020
Hsu Yung-ming 徐永明 Proportional Representation 2016–2020
Jang Show-ling 鄭秀玲 Proportional Representation 2016–2020
Chen Jiau-hua 陳椒華 Proportional Representation 2020–2024
Chiu Hsien-chih 邱顯智 Proportional Representation 2020–2024
Claire Wang 王婉諭 Proportional Representation 2020–2024

Local elections
Election Mayors &
Magistrates		 Councils Third-level
Municipal heads		 Third-level
Municipal councils		 Fourth-level
Village heads		 Election Leader
2018
unified
0 / 22
16 / 912
0 / 204
0 / 2,148
1 / 7,744
 Huang Kuo-chang

The New Power Party fielded 40 candidates for city and county councils across Taiwan in the local elections of November 2018. Sixteen NPP candidates for local office won.[13]

See also

References
  1. "대만 청년정당 '시대역량'을 만나다. (Meet Taiwan's youth party, the 'New Power Party'.)" (in Korean). OhmyNews. 2 January 2018. Retrieved 2 March 2020. 시대역량이 민진당에 끊임없이 진보적인 목소리를 불어넣으려고 노력하는 이유이다. 특히 시대역량은 노동·복지·경제 문제에 집중하고 있다. (The NPP is trying to infuse a constantly progressive voice into the DPP. In particular, the NPP is focusing on labor, welfare and economic issues.)
  2. 人民作主的新政治. newpowerparty.tw. Retrieved 2016-06-19.
  3. New Power Party Platform(Chinese)
  4. Lansford, Tom (ed.). Political Handbook of the World. 1 (2018–2019 ed.). CQ Press. p. 321. ISBN 978-1-5443-2713-6. ISSN 0193-175X.
  5. Wei-chin Lee (2018). Taiwan's Political Re-Alignment and Diplomatic Challenges. Routledge. p. 107
  6. "New Power Party announces leadership structure - Taipei Times". www.taipeitimes.com. Retrieved 2016-04-06.
  7. Taiwan's newest politicians include a rock star and an aboriginal activist
  8. "Civic groups voice support for 'third force' - Taipei Times". www.taipeitimes.com. Retrieved 2016-01-09.
  9. 沒有符合條件的頁面. Retrieved 2016-04-06.
  10. Read, Graeme (April 11, 2019). "Sharp Power, Youth Power, and the New Politics in Taiwan". The China Story Yearbook: Power. ANU Press. pp. 179–182. doi:10.22459/CSY.2019. ISBN 978-1-760-46280-2.
  11. Laskai, Lorand (2015-11-19). "Taiwan's Newest Political Party Was Co-Founded by a Tattooed Rockstar". Foreign Policy. Retrieved 2016-01-06.
  12. "'New Power Party' established, hoping to recruit 100,000 supporters". focustaiwan.tw. Retrieved 2016-04-06.
  13. Cheng, Chi-feng; Liu, Chien-pang; Shih, Hsiu-chuan (25 November 2018). "Smaller parties make ground in city, county councils". Central News Agency. Retrieved 25 November 2018.
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