New Party Taipei City councilors stay true to their party

New Party Taipei City councilors yesterday pledged to stick with the party despite its failure to secure a single legislative seat in Saturday's election and vowed to better serve Taipei residents and oversee municipal development.

The New Party fielded 10 legislator-at-large candidates, but none made it to the Legislative Yuan, as the party only received 4 percent of the party vote -- short of the 5 percent threshold.

"Although small parties were defeated in the election, opinion polls show that people still have expectations for a third force," New Party Taipei City Councilor Hou Kuan-chiung (侯冠群) told a press conference at Taipei City Council.

After former member Lee Ching-yuan (李慶元) left the New Party for the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) several weeks ago, the party's caucus in the city was left with three members -- Hou, Pan Hwai-tzong (潘懷宗) and Wang Hung-wei (王鴻薇).

Pan said the three remaining members would not leave the party and would monitor municipal policies and developments under Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌), a former New Party member, while seeking to get more members elected in the next Taipei City councilor election.

While the New Party failed to secure any seats in the legislative elections, the party received more than 110,000 ballots in Taipei City, which accounted for 10 percent of the city's ballots, Wang said.

New Party Chairman Yok Mu-ming (郁慕明) had said the party would continue to exist and would not consider merging with the KMT.

Hou said the city's caucus will set up service centers in all 12 of the city's municipal districts, seeking to solicit more support for the next councilor elections.