What’s Next for Taiwan’s New Power Party and Its ‘Third Force’ Companions?

The New Power Party (NPP), currently Taiwan’s third-strongest party in terms of representation, evokes curiosity for plenty of good reasons. The NPP took the world by storm in 2016 with Freddy Lim (林昶佐) and Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌), two rockstar social movement activists (in Lim’s case, literally) as their headlining candidates. In the 2016 presidential election, less than a year after its formation, the party took 6.11% of the total party votes and won three district seats, giving them a total of five seats in the Legislative Yuan. 

The NPP formed after the Sunflower Movement—the watershed student social movement in 2014 that created the momentum necessary for a new cohort of activist-led political parties, known colloquially as “third force” parties, to break into Taiwan’s political scene. Other parties include the Social Democratic Party, the Taiwan Statebuilding party, the Free Taiwan Party and the Trees Party. The only one to have any meaningful electoral success, however, was the NPP. All third force parties are pro-independence with strong progressive values. All were outspoken in favor of causes including marriage equality and pension reform.

Initially, the NPP performed well as a third party. Huang Kuo-chang was making a name for himself in the legislature, reaming clueless bureaucrats who did not know how to respond to his blunt and brutal politicking style. Lim, the frontman of the death metal band Chthonic, continued to be the party’s poster boy and managed to continue fundraising and garnering support for the NPP both at home and abroad. Party growth also steadily increased over their first three years. Last year, during the midterm elections, the NPP did relatively well, fielding an impressive 40+ candidates for local city councils and managing to win 16 seats across Taiwan.

About one year ago, however, the party’s image quickly began to change. There was a fundamental disagreement between Lim and Huang about whether or not to work with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and her Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in the upcoming election. Huang was hesitant to endorse Tsai or the DPP until he knew specifically what her plans were for the next four years. Lim, meanwhile, pushed for endorsing her as president since the choice between her and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) nominee Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) was too obvious of a choice. 

The internal disagreement over whether or not to work with the DPP became increasingly public over time, eventually leading to a number of major changes that rocked the party this summer.

First, Lim and Hung Tzu-yung (洪慈庸), two of the first NPP members, quit the party. In response, human rights lawyer Handy Chiu (邱顯智) stepped down as NPP chairman. Days later, another NPP party-list legislative members, Kawlo Iyun Pacidal, was caught laundering government money into NGOs founded by her former assistant. She was subsequently removed from the party. Activist communities were also dismayed by the party’s turbulent development; a number of members took pictures on Facebook showing them officially filing to leave the party. 

While the Lim versus Huang “to work with the DPP or not work the DPP” issue is the most publicly cited reason for the party’s struggle, there were other struggles for power going on behind the scenes which have not yet come to light and may not even be fully resolved yet. Like most political parties in Taiwan, the NPP has always had variations in opinion among party leaders. Although the party’s infighting became public about a year ago, the internal problems within the party date back to its formation. This makes it difficult to pinpoint a single variable explaining why the NPP has gone the direction it has. 

Since its summer shakeup, the NPP has done all it can to consolidate its support. Today, the party still has five candidates running and a 12-person party-list. Huang Kuo-chang is not running for reelection in his district of Xizhi, but is instead #4 on the NPP party-list. The party has not yet endorsed Tsai for president and has decided not to work with the DPP — the exact opposite strategy it utilized in 2016. Ironically, Fan Yun (范雲), founder of the Social Democratic Party, who originally did not want to endorse the DPP in 2016, is now on the DPP’s party list. These two third force parties have effectively switched strategies.

Although many assume that the NPP’s declining support must all be flocking to the newly formed Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) of Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), far more NPP supporters are instead planning to send their votes to the DPP. The NPP and TPP are ideologically very far apart. The NPP was founded as being openly pro-independence and pro-progressive values. Those who voted for the NPP in the last election because of their political stances are more likely to vote for the DPP rather than the TPP, which is neither pro-independence nor socially progressive. 

The DPP has, rather miraculously, capitalized off the NPP’s decline. By recruiting figures like Sunflower Movement activist leader Lin Fei-fan (林飛帆), Sunflower activist Lai Pin-yu (賴品妤) and the Taiwan Statebuilding Party’s Chen Po-wei (陳柏惟), the DPP has replaced the NPP as the party activists are most likely to support. Those who voted for the NPP purely because they are a third party may be attracted to Ko’s TPP, but considering their base of support comes from activists who are highly critical of Ko, this number of pure protest voters is likely to be low. 

Realistically, the NPP will not disappear after the 2020 election, even if they are completely unsuccessful. They still have a base of support, registered party members, and 16 city councilors across the island. Polls vary, but after releasing their party list, they are still likely to get two members from proportional representation. Depending on how the party performs electorally, they will inevitably face a tough four years of consolidation and reflection as they plan their future strategy.

(Cover photo via Voice of America / Public Domain)