New Power Party (NPP) Legislator Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) was re-elected as party executive chairman yesterday, following repeated delays and rumors of internal party tension.
“Today we held a chairmen’s meeting and, based on our decision, I will continue to serve as the party’s executive chairman,” Huang said in a news conference following the meeting, adding that the decision was unanimous.
His re-election follows a reshuffling of the party’s board of chairmen about two weeks ago, in keeping with party charter provisions mandating new leadership elections after every national election.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
Huang said that important decisions would be made by a larger decisionmaking committee composed of the seven party chairmen, along with the conveners of eight different internal policy and work committees.
When asked if there had been conflict over the party’s direction, Huang said: “Everything about the party’s operation is conducted in accordance with the party charter.”
He said that mandating a separation between the party’s internal leadership and national legislators would require the decisionmaking committee to revisit the party’s charter, adding that each of the party’s national legislators would take responsibility for local leadership in their assigned districts.
Neil Peng (馮光遠), former NPP legislative candidate who was also elected to the board of chairmen, called for the executive chairmanship position to be awarded to someone other than the party’s legislators to preserve the party machinery’s independence from legislators.
He said he accepted the result of yesterday’s meeting, which had been delayed by his demand that every member of the board be present before an official meeting could be held.
When asked about his party’s plans to remain relevant and avoid the fates of other small parties such as the New Party and Taiwan Solidarity Union, Huang said his strategy would focus on continuing to produce high-quality legislation while cultivating young people to participate in the 2018 local elections.
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