This article lists the political parties in the Republic of China (Taiwan) from 7 December 1949.
The organization of political parties in Taiwan is governed by the Political Parties Act, enacted on 6 December 2017. The Political Parties Act defines political parties as "political groups consisting of ROC citizens with a common political ideology who safeguard the free, democratic, constitutional order, assist in shaping the political will of the people, and nominate candidates for election to public office."[1][2]
Prior to the passage of the Political Parties Act, political organizations in Taiwan followed the Civil Associations Act, also known as the Civil Organizations Act, promulgated in 1989.[1][2] The Civil Associations Act required that groups held a convention to announce the formation of a political party, and within thirty days of the announcement, provide a list of party members and a party charter to the Ministry of the Interior.[3] Groups established when the Civil Associations Act was in effect should have revised their charters to comply with the Political Parties Act by 7 December 2019. To be compliant with the Political Parties Act, political groups must additionally convene a representative assembly or party congress for four consecutive years and have followed relevant laws and regulations governing the nomination of candidates to campaign in elections for public office for the same time period. Within one year of filing for political party status, a political group must complete legal person registration. The Ministry of the Interior requires that political parties submit annual property and financial statements. Political organizations that do not meet these regulations were dissolved and removed from the registry of political parties.[1][2]
The following is a full list of registered political parties according to the Ministry of the Interior, by order of registration. Dates indicate date of founding. A large number of these political parties have been officially deregistered or dissolved.[7]
Political party movements in Taiwan started in the late 1910s after World War I, during the Taishō period (Taishō Democracy). Taiwanese political movements at this time were to modify the discriminatory colonial laws established in earlier years, and to set up local autonomy systems like in Mainland Japan. The largest political movement at this time was the Petition Movement for the Establishment of a Taiwanese Parliament. At the same time, the International Communist Movement also influenced Taiwan, many Left-wing parties and organizations were also established.
Taiwan was ceded back to the Republic of China, founded in 1912 on the mainland, on 25 October 1945. From 1945 until 1949, political parties in China which had operated covertly under Japanese rule were permitted to operate in Taiwan province. The ruling Kuomintang set up formal branches in Taiwan, and so did other major political parties including the Chinese Communist Party (in 1946). Although it had no formal connection with the Taiwanese Communist Party suppressed by Japanese authorities in the 1930s (which was instead affiliated with the Communist Party of Japan), the Taiwan branch of the Chinese Communist Party absorbed many former members of the Taiwanese Communist Party. However, against the backdrop of the Chinese Civil War which erupted soon after the retrocession of Taiwan, the Kuomintang-controlled Republic of China government attempted to restrict the operation of Chinese Communist Party cells in Taiwan, and other opposition parties.
With the Republic of China government rapidly losing the Chinese Civil War against the Chinese Communist Party, the ruling Kuomintang began preparing to move the government to Taiwan in 1949. Taiwan was placed under martial law from 19 May 1949 to 15 July 1987. The Taiwan provincial branch of the Chinese Communist Party was particularly targeted, and by 1952 had been completely destroyed.
During this time, all forms of opposition were forbidden by the government, only three political parties that retreated to Taiwan were allowed to participate the elections.
All other oppositions who were not allowed not form a political party could only be listed as "independent candidate". These movements were called Tangwai movement (黨外, literally outside of Kuomintang). A notable exception in this era was
It was established "illegally" on 28 September 1986, then was legalized in the next year by the lifting of the martial law.
As Taiwan democratized in the late 1980s, the number of legally registered political parties in Taiwan had increased exponentially and continued to increase year by year, indicating a liberal democracy and high political freedom in Taiwan.
Number of registered political parties by year
Year
1990
1992
1994
1996
1998
2000
2002
2004
2006
2008
2010
2012
2014
2016
2017
2018
No. parties
60
72
75
82
87
94
99
110
122
145
177
234
264
310
334
220
In recent decades, Taiwan's political campaigns can be classified to two ideological blocs
Compliance on funding source, accounting, and financial transparency.
By the end of 2018, among the 343 existing political party declarations: 220 have met the new compliance, 56 chose to dissolve or transformed to a national political association.
↑ KMT's prior body was Revive China Society (興中會; xīngzhōnghuì), founded on 24 November 1894. It officially renamed itself as China Nationalist Party (中國國民黨) in 1919.
↑ The prior body of China Democratic Socialist Party (中國民主社會黨) was China National Socialist Party (中國國家社會黨), which was founded on 16 April 1932. It renamed itself as China Democratic Socialist Party (中國民主社會黨) on 15 August 1946.
Taiwanese Hokkien, or simply Taiwanese, also known as Taiuanoe, Taigi, Taigu, Taiwanese Minnan, Hoklo and Holo, is a variety of the Hokkien language spoken natively by more than 70 percent of the population of Taiwan. It is spoken by a significant portion of those Taiwanese people who are descended from Hoklo immigrants of southern Fujian. It is one of the national languages of Taiwan.
The Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) is a political party in Taiwan which advocates Taiwan independence, and is affiliated with the Taiwanese localization movement. It was officially founded on 12 August 2001 and is considered part of the Pan-Green Coalition. Unlike the Democratic Progressive Party, its larger companion party in the Pan-Green Coalition, the TSU actively campaigns for the creation of a de jure Republic of Taiwan. The future of the party is in doubt after the 2016 elections as the party failed to secure enough votes to be eligible for state funding.
The Taiwan Area, fully the "Taiwan Area of the Republic of China", also the free area of the Republic of China, the "Tai-Min Area ", is a term used to refer to the actual-controlled territories of the Republic of China, usually called "Taiwan". It has been in official use since the Additional articles of the Republic of China constitution took effect to end temporary anti-communist provisions on 1 May 1991. The term is also used in the 1992 Cross-Strait Act.
The Young China Party (YCP), also known as the Chinese Youth Party (CYP), is a minor political party in Taiwan. It was one of the three legal political parties in Taiwan during the martial law period from 1949 to 1987, the other two being the Kuomintang and the China Democratic Socialist Party. The YCP was an important political party during the early history of the Republic of China, when its government was based on the mainland.
The Labor Party is a left-wing political party in Taiwan, founded on 29 March 1989 by a striking trade union in Xinpu, Hsinchu County. It is part of the wider labor movement in Taiwan, and advocates for labor reforms and the redistribution of social resources. The party also supports the unification of Taiwan with mainland China, with a high level of autonomy reserved for Taiwan under the "one country, two systems" principle.
The Taiwan Farmers' Party is a minor party of Taiwan.
The Taiwan Communist Party was a social democratic political party from 1994 to 2020 in Taiwan. It was founded in 1994, but it could not register with the Ministry of the Interior until 2008, when the Constitutional Court removed anti-communist provisions from Taiwan's constitution. The party was abolished by the Ministry of the Interior in 2020.
The Taiwan Church News is a publication of the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan. It was first published in 1885 as the Tâi-oân-hú-siâⁿ Kàu-hōe-pò under the direction of missionary Thomas Barclay, a British pastor of the Presbyterian Church, and was Taiwan's first printed newspaper, making it the longest-running newspaper in Taiwanese history. This early edition was also notable for being printed in romanised Taiwanese using the Pe̍h-ōe-jī orthography. The publication was banned during the latter stages of Japanese rule and editions were also impounded on several occasions during the martial law era in post-war Taiwan for discussing forbidden subjects. The newspaper is renowned for its use of Pe̍h-ōe-jī.
Dang Guo, also known as Tang Kuo, was the one-party system adopted by the Republic of China (ROC) under the Kuomintang, lasting from 1924 to 1987. It was adopted after Sun Yat-sen acknowledged the efficacy of the nascent Soviet Union's political system, including its system of dictatorship. Chiang Kai-shek later used the Kuomintang to control and operate the Nationalist government and the National Revolutionary Army. All major national policies of the government bureaucracy were formulated by the Kuomintang, giving the party supreme power over the whole nation.
The Taiwan Foundation for Democracy is a non-partisan non-profit organisation headquartered in Taipei. Originally initiated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of China in June 2003, the foundation's purpose is to promote democracy around the world.
The official romanization system for Taiwanese Hokkien in Taiwan is known as Tâi-uân Tâi-gí Lô-má-jī Phing-im Hong-àn, often shortened to Tâi-lô. It is derived from Pe̍h-ōe-jī and since 2006 has been one of the phonetic notation systems officially promoted by Taiwan's Ministry of Education. The system is used in the MoE's Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwan Minnan. It is nearly identical to Pe̍h-ōe-jī, apart from: using ts tsh instead of ch chh, using u instead of o in vowel combinations such as oa and oe, using i instead of e in eng and ek, using oo instead of o͘, and using nn instead of ⁿ.
The Peasant Party is a minor party in the Republic of China (Taiwan). It was established on 3 February 1989, but only came into the political horizon when its founder Tiuⁿ Bêng-hián (張銘顯) was elected in the 2005 National Assembly election. Tiuⁿ claimed that the party has more than 6000 members. On the national question, it leans towards Taiwan independence.
Special municipality, historically known as Yuan-controlled municipality, is a first-level administrative division unit in Taiwan. It is the highest level of the country's administrative structure and is equivalent to a province. After the suspension of the provincial governments of 2018, the special municipalities along with provincial cities and counties have all governed directly under the central government.
The Taiwan Democratic Communist Party was a minor political party in Taiwan. It was founded on 1 October 2009 by Chen Tien-fu, cousin of former president Chen Shui-bian. The party's stated purpose was to create a distinct form of socialism in Taiwan and work towards unification with the People's Republic of China.
The Minkuotang (MKT), also known as the Republican Party, was a political party in the Republic of China (Taiwan). The party was established on 13 March 2015 by former Kuomintang legislative representative Hsu Hsin-ying, with the founding assembly held on 18 March 2015. It was part of the Pan-Blue Coalition and then merged with the newly-formed Congress Party Alliance in 2019.
The Taiwan First Nations Party is a minor political party in Taiwan. Formed in 2012, the aim of the party is to represent the voices and issues of Taiwanese indigenous peoples. As of 2018 they have two locally-elected representatives; Dahu Istanda, the head of Namasia District in Kaohsiung, and Shih Ching-lung, a councillor in the Nantou County Council.
The Social Democratic Party (SDP) is a centre-left political party in Taiwan founded in 2015. In 2015, the SDP formed a coalition with the Green Party Taiwan to contest the 2016 legislative election.
The Chinese Unification Promotion Party, also known as the Unionist Party, is a minor far-right political party in Taiwan that promotes Chinese unification.
The Taiwan Statebuilding Party is a political party in the Republic of China (Taiwan). The party was established in 2016 as Taiwan Radical Wings. The party is considered a rather close ally of the Democratic Progressive Party, while fighting to replace opposition parties whom TSP unilaterally claims as "not loyal to Taiwan", such as Kuomintang and Taiwan People's Party. In the 2024 Taiwanese legislative election, TSP failed to gain any seat in the Legislative Yuan and lost its status as a national political party.
The Taiwan People's Communist Party is a minor political party in Taiwan. It was founded on 4 February 2017 by businessman Lin Te-wang, and was the sixth party with "communist" in its name to register with the Ministry of the Interior. It advocates socialism and Chinese unification.
↑ "新黨公布"一國兩制台灣方案" (全文)"[New Party Announces "One Country, Two Systems Taiwan Proposal" (Full Text)]. CRNTT.com. 18 August 2019. Retrieved 7 December 2023.
↑ "正神名黨組織章程"(PDF). Ministry of the Interior. Retrieved 4 March 2023.
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