The New Power Party (NPP) aims to win as many party votes as possible in the Jan. 11 legislative elections to cross the 5 percent threshold and win legislator-at-large seats, NPP Chairman Hsu Yung-ming (徐永明) said, adding that the party would not contest the presidential election.
The party’s central theme for the elections is “Fairness and justice, transform Taiwan,” he said.
The NPP has a good chance of winning more legislative seats by amassing more than 1 million votes, and it can reach the 5 percent threshold, Hsu said.
Photo: Lin Hsin-han, Taipei Times
“We are confident about winning at least four at-large seats. We can likely win five or six seats,” he said.
The NPP will probably be joined by Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je’s (柯文哲) Taiwan People’s Party in reaching the threshold, he added.
Therefore, four parties could win legislative seats — in addition to the Democratic Progressive Party and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) — Hsu said.
“The nominees for at-large seats from the pan-green and pan-blue camps come mainly from old power bases and traditional factions. The NPP’s nominee list will be unveiled soon, and ours will be better than the other parties’,” he added.
The latest polls point at a thin margin for legislative seats between the pan-green and pan-blue camps, Hsu said.
“It is likely that no single party will have a majority in the legislature. In that case, third-force parties would play an important role in electing a legislative speaker,” he said.
The NPP received more than 700,000 votes in the previous election, which amounted to 6.1 percent of the total votes cast.
Asked by reporters about a rumor that the party has put NPP Legislator Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) in fourth place in its at-large nominee list to solicit more party votes, Hsu said that “the NPP’s list will be aimed at reforms and making breakthroughs, and we will certainly present a refreshing and bright list of nominees for the public.”
The NPP’s nominees would not be saddled with “traditional powerful families” and “political pork-barrel” issues like those of the bigger parties, he said.
“Our starting point is based on professionalism and political idealism. We are searching for high-quality talent from all sectors of society for the true voice of the public to enter the legislature.” he said.
Therefore, the NPP would not have local political forces or the children of families already in power on its at-large list, Hsu said.
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