New Power Party

Not to be confused with the New Party.
New Power Party
時代力量
LeaderClaire Wang
SecretaryBai Ching-feng [zh]
Policy-making Committee
Full list
Founded25 January 2015
HeadquartersTaipei City, Taiwan
Ideology
Political positionCentre-left[4][5]
Colours    Yellow, black
Legislative Yuan
0 / 113
Municipal mayors
0 / 6
Magistrates/mayors
0 / 16
Councillors
6 / 910
Township/city mayors
0 / 204
Website
www.newpowerparty.tw
New Power Party
Traditional Chinese時代力量
Literal meaningPower of the Era
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinShídài Lìliàng
Hakka
Pha̍k-fa-sṳSṳ̀-thoi Li̍t-liong
Yue: Cantonese
JyutpingSi4doi6 Lik6loeng6
Southern Min
Hokkien POJSî-tāi Le̍k-liōng

The New Power Party (NPP) 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/nationalism.[1][6][7] 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.[8] Nevertheless, the NPP's policies are very much aligned with and closely match the Pan-Green camp; thus the NPP cooperated with the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) against the Kuomintang (KMT) in the 2016 elections, going as far as not to run in traditional KMT strongholds to avoid competition with the DPP.[9] The party works in tandem with a perceived generational shift towards Taiwan-centrism as the new socio-cultural norm.[10]

The party was started by Freddy Lim, lead vocalist of Taiwanese heavy metal band Chthonic,[11] veteran activist Michael Lin, human rights lawyers Lin Feng-cheng [zh], 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 the late Hung Chung-chiu, environmental lawyer Ko Shao-chen [zh], 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 Taiwanese legislative election, three from constituency and two from party-list votes, beating out long-time third party People First Party. However, two of its legislators left the party in 2019. In the 2020 Taiwanese legislative election, NPP won three party-list seats.

  1. ^ a b c New Power Party Platform(Chinese)
  2. ^ "대만 청년정당 '시대역량'을 만나다. (Meet Taiwan's youth party, the 'New Power Party'.)" (in Korean). OhmyNews. 2 January 2018. Retrieved 2 March 2020. 시대역량이 민진당에 끊임없이 진보적인 목소리를 불어넣으려고 노력하는 이유이다. 특히 시대역량은 노동·복지·경제 문제에 집중하고 있다. (The NPP is trying to infuse a constantly progressive voice into the DPP. In particular, the NPP is focusing on labor, welfare and economic issues.)
  3. ^ "청년정치 도전 '시대역량' 대만선거서 돌풍 (The New Power Party, which challenges youth politics, is creating a sensation in Taiwan's elections.)" (in Korean). 주간경향(Weekly Kyunghyang). 2 February 2016. Retrieved 18 December 2020.
  4. ^ Lansford, Tom, ed. (19 March 2019). Political Handbook of the World. Vol. 1 (2018–2019 ed.). CQ Press. p. 321. ISBN 978-1-5443-2713-6. ISSN 0193-175X.
  5. ^ Carin Holroyd, ed. (2020). Introducing East Asia: History, Politics, Economy and Society. Routledge. ISBN 9781317409922.
  6. ^ "New Power Party announces leadership structure - Taipei Times". www.taipeitimes.com. 14 September 2015. Retrieved 2016-04-06.
  7. ^ Horwitz, Josh (January 18, 2016). "Taiwan's newest politicians include a rock star and an aboriginal activist". Quartz.
  8. ^ "Civic groups voice support for 'third force' - Taipei Times". www.taipeitimes.com. 8 January 2016. Retrieved 2016-01-09.
  9. ^ 沒有符合條件的頁面. Retrieved 2016-04-06.[permanent dead link‍]
  10. ^ Read, Graeme (April 11, 2019). "Sharp Power, Youth Power, and the New Politics in Taiwan". In Golley, Jane; Jaivin, Linda; Farrelly, Paul J; Strange, Sharon (eds.). The China Story Yearbook: Power (PDF). ANU Press. pp. 179–182. doi:10.22459/CSY.2019. ISBN 978-1-760-46280-2.
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).