History
Founding
On 1 August 2019, Mayor of Taipei Ko Wen-je announced the formation of a new political party. [17] He said that the Taiwan People's Party (TPP) seeks to "become an alternative" to both the Pan-Green Coalition headed by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) as well as the Kuomintang (KMT)-influenced Pan-Blue Coalition. [18]
At a preliminary meeting on 6 August, Ko was elected chairman of the party. [19] As required by the Ministry of the Interior, the newly formed Taiwan People's Party conducted its founding assembly at the National Taiwan University Hospital International Convention Center later that day. [20] [21] It was Ko's 60th birthday. [21] Of the 111 founding party members, 72 attended its founding assembly. [21] [22] The TPP charter permits party members to hold membership status in other political parties. [23] [24] 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 Kuomintang, as well as a number of political independents. [25]
The TPP shares a Chinese-language name with political activist Chiang Wei-shui's now defunct Taiwanese People's Party, [26] which was formed in 1927 during Japanese colonial rule as Taiwan's first political party against Japanese fascism. The Chiang Wei-shui Cultural Foundation panned the name of Ko's new party, stating that there might be confusion between the two. [27] In response, Ko stated that he preferred to retain the name unless it was illegal. [26]
2020 elections
Ko stated that the Taiwan People's Party (TPP) would contest in the 2020 legislative election, [20] but that he would not mount an independent bid in the presidential election. [28] He later said that the TPP would nominate a full slate of 34 at-large legislative candidates. [29] [23] 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. [30] The TPP nominated its first eight candidates for single-member constituencies on 22 September 2019. [31] [32] 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." [33] In November 2019, the TPP announced a party list of 29 at-large legislative candidates. [34] [35] 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. [36] The TPP won five at-large seats in the 2020 legislative election, becoming the third largest party in the legislature. [37] [38]
2024 elections
The Taiwan People's Party officially nominated Ko to run in the 2024 presidential election [39] [40] and contested in 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. [41] [42] Ko nominated Cynthia Wu, an at-large legislative member and businesswoman who served in the 10th Legislative Yuan, as his running mate on 24 November. [43] The TPP nominated the maximum 34 at-large legislative candidates, and 10 legislative candidates for single-member constituencies, concentrating mostly in northern Taiwan. [44] [45] Ko championed himself as a "middle road" between the KMT and the DPP, attracting young voters who were dissatisfied with the "big two parties". [46] According to The Diplomat , there is a shift recently in political stance closer to Pan-Blue than to initially Pan-Green. [47] 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. [48] [49]
Ko received 26.46% of the popular vote in the presidential election, placing in third place. The TPP received eight at-large legislative seats, gaining three seats in total. [50] It was the TPP's greatest electoral result since its inception, preventing both the KMT and the DPP from obtaining a legislative majority. [51]
Symbols and organisation
The party charter states that the party's formal abbreviated name in Chinese is 民眾黨; Mínzhòngdǎng. [26] [52] 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. [53]
In 2023, the Taiwan New Homeland Think Tank Association was established as a TPP-affiliated think tank. [54]
While public opinion of Ko suffered due to corruption investigations, TPP as a whole experienced only a minor decline in support in September 2024. [55]
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