New Power Party (NPP) Chairwoman Chen Jiau-hua (陳椒華) and the NPP central decisionmaking committee should resign to take responsibility for the party’s poor performance in the local elections on Saturday, NPP lawmakers said yesterday.
The nation’s fourth-largest political party, formed out of the 2014 Sunflower movement, garnered only six city and county councilor seats, down from 16.
NPP legislators Chiu Hsien-chih (邱顯智) and Claire Wang (王婉諭) on Sunday resigned as members of the party’s decisionmaking committee. They further criticized the committee for neglecting to offer adequate support for its candidates and failing to defend the party’s positions on several issues.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
Chen offered her resignation at 7:30pm on Sunday, but was convinced to stay after an interim central decisionmaking meeting that night asking her to remain in the position.
Chiu and Wang, along with three other committee members who resigned, yesterday held a news conference outside the Legislative Yuan to express opposition to the committee’s offer to retain Chen.
Chen and the central decisionmaking committee should resign and be reselected through an internal election that is open to other contenders, they said.
The committee failed to decisively act on three key matters during the campaigns, Chiu said.
“The committee did not quickly dismiss the allegation that the party reached a tacit agreement with Taiwan People’s Party to not nominate an NPP Hsinchu mayoral candidate and back Ann Kao (高虹安) instead,” Chiu said. “Nor did it say anything about the fraud accusations against Kao,” Chiu said.
The committee also ignored former NPP lawmaker Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) endorsing TPP Taipei mayoral candidate Vivian Huang (黃珊珊), a move that potentially hurt NPP Taipei councilor candidates, Chiu said.
“The decisionmaking committee, including myself, should resign their committee positions,” Chiu said. “My resignation does not mean that I am leaving the party. Rather, I am preparing myself for the next battle — the legislative election in Hsinchu. I will not shy away from my responsibility when the party needs me.”
Wang also said she would stay in the NPP.
A decision was reached to ask Chen to stay within 20 minutes after the start of an interim meeting, a decision that was not unanimous, committee member Lee Chao-li (李兆立) said.
Lee said he was surprised and disappointed that Chen decided to remain at the post.
“Somebody has to be responsible for the party’s loss in the election. Sadly, the decisionmaking committee wanted to put on a show to consolidate the power of party leaders instead of learning from the loss,” he said.
The NPP has been dealing with internal conflicts since 2017, when Freddie Lim (林昶佐) and Hung Tzu-yung (洪慈庸) left the party over a disagreement regarding the party’s direction. Since 2020, several city councilors have also abandoned the party to run as independent candidates.
The party’s reputation was further tarnished after former NPP chairman Hsu Yung-ming (徐永明) was accused of accepting bribes from former Pacific Distribution Investment Co chairman Lee Heng-lung (李恆隆), who had been lobbying for an amendment that would have favored him in a legal dispute with Far Eastern Group over the ownership of the Pacific Sogo Department Store.
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