The establishment of the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) would affect the New Power Party (NPP) more than any other, NPP Legislator Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) said yesterday.
Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), who founded the TPP, on Tuesday said that it plans to nominate at least 34 legislators-at-large in next year’s legislative elections.
The TPP would not make the same mistake as the NPP, which nominated only six candidates for legislators-at-large in its first legislative elections in 2016, Ko said.
“Ko’s new party will have the biggest impact on the NPP,” Huang said on Facebook.
Nonetheless, he said he was happy to see the new party formed, because it is normal for political parties to have to compete for voters’ support.
As with every other new party, the TPP must stand up to public scrutiny in terms of the quality of its politicians, as well as its core values and platforms, the former NPP chairman said.
“It cannot simply rely on Ko’s personal charisma,” Huang said, adding that it would have to stand the test of time.
Meanwhile, NPP caucus whip Hsu Yung-ming (徐永明) said that the TPP lacked core values.
Ko saying that the TPP’s legislators would represent his will in the Legislative Yuan and the party allowing its members to have membership in other parties show that Ko has no core values, Hsu said on Facebook.
“Does Ko plan to join the legislative elections because he hopes to break the political duopoly [of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Democratic Progressive Party], or because he thinks it would help his team at the Taipei City Government in negotiations with the central government on cases such as the Taipei Twin Tower development project?” Hsu asked.
As many TPP members are high-ranking officials in the Taipei City Government, if they join the legislative elections in January next year it could seriously affect the city government’s operations, he said.
“I would like to remind Ko to not turn the city government into an election campaign office. We already have a mayor who is not doing his job in Kaohsiung; do not let the same thing happen in Taipei,” Hsu said.
As an elected official, Ko should reassure the public that his newly founded party would not affect his role as Taipei mayor, Hsu added.
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