The Taiwan People's Party (TPP) is a centre-left political party in Taiwan. It was formally established on 6 August 2019 by Ko Wen-je, who served as its first chairman. The party considers itself as an alternative third party to both the Democratic Progressive Party and the Kuomintang.[21]
At a preliminary meeting on 6 August, Ko was elected chairman of the party.[24] As required by the Ministry of the Interior, the Taiwan People's Party conducted its founding assembly at the National Taiwan University Hospital International Convention Center later that day.[25][26] It was Ko's 60th birthday.[26] Seventy-two of the 111 founding party members were in attendance.[26][27] The TPP charter permits party members to hold membership status in other political parties.[28][29] Many early party members worked for the Taipei City Government or for Ko. Among the TPP's first members were politicians formerly affiliated with the DPP and the KMT, as well as a number of political independents.[30]
The TPP shares a Chinese-language name with Japanese-colonial era political activist Chiang Wei-shui's now defunct Taiwanese People's Party, just with an alternate character for “tái”. (Ko’s party uses “台” while Chiang’s party used “臺”, though this difference is often negligible to native Taiwanese.)[31] The Chiang Wei-shui Cultural Foundation panned the name of Ko's new party, stating that it might cause confusion.[32] In response, Ko said that he preferred to retain the name unless it was illegal.[31]
2020 elections
Ko stated that the Taiwan People's Party (TPP) would contest the 2020 legislative election,[25] but that he would not mount an independent bid in the presidential election.[33] He later said that the TPP would nominate a full slate of 34 at-large legislative candidates.[34][28] Political scientist Liao Da-chi opined that Ko's Taiwan People's Party would take more votes from supporters of the Democratic Progressive Party in the 2020 election.[35] The TPP nominated its first eight candidates for single-member constituencies on 22 September 2019.[36][37] During a second round of legislative nominations on 20 October 2019, Ko stated that the TPP sought to prevent a single political party from winning a legislative majority. The TPP described this tactic as "pushing the pan-blue and pan-green camps to the side to allow for the people to be in the center."[38] In November 2019, the TPP announced a party list of 29 at-large legislative candidates.[39][40] In December 2019, the TPP's political goals grew in scale, as Ko stated that the party aimed to be the largest represented in the Legislative Yuan.[41] The TPP won five at-large seats in the 2020 legislative election, becoming the third largest party in the legislature.[42][43]
The Taiwan People's Party nominated Ko to run in the 2024 presidential election[44][45] and contested the legislative election. There were efforts to run a joint opposition ticket in the presidential race with the KMT's Hou Yu-ih, but talks ultimately collapsed.[46][47] Ko nominated Cynthia Wu, an at-large legislator and businesswoman who served in the 10th Legislative Yuan, as his running mate on 24 November.[48] The TPP nominated the maximum number of 34 at-large legislative candidates and 10 legislative candidates for single-member constituencies, concentrated mostly in northern Taiwan.[49][50] Ko championed himself as a "middle road" between the KMT and the DPP, attracting young voters who were dissatisfied with the "big two parties".[51] According to The Diplomat, there is a shift recently in political stance closer to Pan-Blue than to initially Pan-Green.[52] On the other hand, Time and CNN observe the party as remaining centrist, positioning itself as a stark contrast to both the KMT and the DPP.[53][54]
Ko received 26.46% of the popular vote in the presidential election, placing in third place. The TPP won eight at-large legislative seats, gaining three seats in total.[55] It was the TPP's greatest electoral result since its inception, preventing both the KMT and the DPP from obtaining a legislative majority.[56]
In September 2024 Ko was arrested on corruption allegations during his time as mayor of Taipei and misreporting campaign finances during the his run for president during the 2024 presidential election. In december of the same year he was officially indicted.[57] As a result he handed in his resignation the same month and was officially replaced by Huang Kuo-chang on 1 January 2025.[58]
Policy
The policy from the TPP mainly manifests itself in its anti establishment view, and pushing their economic agenda. Which mainly attacks the DPP and KMT about low wages, unemployment and the cost of living. On China, the TPP profess to be neutral and pro-status quo.[59]
Their core values Include:
Safeguarding vulnerable populations
Achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050
Ensuring affordable housing
Financial discipline
Pragmatism and preparedness in relation to cross strait relations
The party charter states that the party's formal abbreviated name in Chinese is 民眾黨; Mínzhòngdǎng.[31][61] The party colors are turquoise and white. The first signifies an end to the longtime blue–green political divide in Taiwan. The color white represents the "white force" of Ko's allies, a group that supports open and transparent government.[62]
In 2023, the Taiwan New Homeland Think Tank Association was established as a TPP-affiliated think tank.[63]
While public opinion of Ko suffered due to corruption investigations, TPP as a whole experienced only a minor decline in support in September 2024.[64]
↑ "「自由派」的民眾黨與「進步派」的時力，將是立法院超越藍綠的「不關鍵少數」". The News Lens 關鍵評論網 (in Chinese). 14 January 2020. Retrieved 8 May 2023. 民眾黨有「當代自由主義」的味道，這項思潮是當年美國經濟大衰退後，面對內憂外患，以凱恩斯學派為基礎的體制改革。
↑ "The Labor Market, Economic Insecurity, and Populism in Taiwan". Taiwan Insight. 6 January 2021. Retrieved 11 April 2025. Ko combined the anti-China rhetoric with social justice issues and campaigned himself as a "white force" different from existing political parties. In other words, Ko combined the anti-China rhetoric with left-wing populist ideas.
↑ "Taiwan Election 2024". Hong Kong Free Press. 5 January 2024. Retrieved 29 November 2024. The centre-left Taiwan People's Party (TPP) considers itself an alternative third party between the two frontrunners.
↑ "Taiwan-China Tensions Increase as New Taiwanese President Takes Charge". Fair Observer. 4 June 2024. Retrieved 29 November 2024. In a January election, Taiwanese Vice President Lai Ching-te became president. The Taiwanese nationalist DPP thus retained control of Taiwan's presidency, but it lost control of the legislature to the Chinese nationalist Kuomintang and the liberal Taiwan People's Party.
↑ Hioe, Brian; Nachman, Lev (28 November 2023). "From Green to Blue: The Political History of Ko Wen-je". The Diplomat. Archived from the original on 28 November 2023. Retrieved 29 May 2024. ...An incident that crystallized the growing pan-Green consensus against Ko was his defense of his exchanges with China – even after student demonstrators protesting events held as part of the exchanges were attacked on the campus of National Taiwan University by gangsters with ties to pro-unification groups in September 2017...By 2018, Ko was seen as more pan-Blue than pan-Green...The TPP branded itself as being above Blue-Green politics. Despite such claims, Ko recruited heavily from the pan-Blue established politicians to form his new party. His number two and the TPP's candidate to succeed Ko as Taipei mayor in 2022, Huang Shan-shan, was even previously a member of the pro-unification New Party...
↑ Campbell, Charlie (10 January 2024). "Taiwan Wants Peace and Economic Stability—Now It Could Hinge on a High-Stakes Choice". Time. Archived from the original on 13 June 2024. Retrieved 14 June 2024. According to last permitted polling before the vote, the China-skeptic incumbent Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) of Vice-President William Lai holds a slender lead over the more Beijing-friendly Nationalists, or KMT, with the upstart centrist Taiwan People's Party (TPP) in third place.
↑ de Acosta, Rosa; de Shveda, Krystina; Chacon, Marco (12 January 2024). "A visual guide to Taiwan's high-stakes presidential election". CNN. Archived from the original on 21 February 2024. Retrieved 14 June 2024. Taiwan People's Party (TPP), a centrist alternative party founded only in 2019.
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