Founded January 25, 2015 | Secretary Chen Huei-min | |
Deputy Leaders Freddy LimHsu Yung-mingLin Fong-chengMichael LinHwang Hsu-cheng Ideology PopulismProgressivismSocial liberalismTaiwanizationTaiwan independence | ||
The New Power Party (NPP; Chinese: 時代力量; pinyin: Shídài Lìliàng; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Sî‑tāi Le̍k‑liōng) 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. 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. Nevertheless, the NPP's policies are very much aligned and closely matches the Pan-Green camp; thus the NPP cooperated with the DPP against the KMT in the 2016 elections, going as far as to run in traditional KMT strongholds to avoid competition with the DPP.
Contents
The party was started by Freddy Lim, lead vocalist of Taiwanese heavy-metal band Chthonic, veteran activist Michael Lin, human rights lawyers Lin Fong-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 late Hung Chung-chiu, environmental lawyer Ko Shau-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 general election, 3 from constituencies and 2 from proportional, beating out long-time third party People First Party.
Platform
The NPP aims to rewrite the Constitution of the Republic of China, which 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 the Taiwan Area.
The NPP supports the legalization of same-sex marriage, and is generally in favour of abolition of capital punishment. Despite the fact, according to the poll numbers, more than 80% of the Taiwanese people support to maintain the use of capital punishment.
History
Members of the Ninth Legislative Yuan
In the 2016 Taiwanese general 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.