The New Power Party ( NPP ) is a political party in Taiwan formed in early 2015. The party emerged from the Sunflower Student Movement in 2014, and advocates for universal human rights , civil and political liberties, as well as Taiwan independence / nationalism . The party is a part of the political phenomenon known as the "Third Force" ( 第三勢力 ), in which new political parties, unaligned with traditional Pan-Green or Pan-Blue Coalitions , sought to provide an alternative in Taiwanese politics. Nevertheless, the NPP's policies are very much aligned with and closely match the Pan-Green camp; thus the NPP cooperated with the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) against the Kuomintang (KMT) in the 2016 elections, going as far as not to run in traditional KMT strongholds to avoid competition with the DPP. The party works in tandem with a perceived generational shift towards Taiwan-centrism as the new socio-cultural norm.
29-625: The party was started by Freddy Lim , lead vocalist of Taiwanese heavy metal band Chthonic , veteran activist Michael Lin, human rights lawyers Lin Feng-cheng [ zh ] , Chiu Hsien-chih , and other prominent figures of the Sunflower Student Movement . Lim headed the party-building process, which saw the inclusion of Hung Tzu-yung , sister of the late Hung Chung-chiu , environmental lawyer Ko Shao-chen [ zh ] , and author-activist Neil Peng into
58-625: A cross-party conflict. He has criticized the Kuomintang and People First Party 's electoral strategy in the 2000 presidential elections , comparing it to the Democratic Party's loss in the United States presidential elections held that same year . Shortly after the 2006 protests led by Shih Ming-teh , Hsu wrote that the proposed formation of a third presidential ticket in the 2008 election would have taken more votes from
87-590: A political independent. He won reelection in January 2020, defeating Lin Yu-fang for a second time. The Central Election Commission announced on 10 August 2021 that a petition to recall Lim had gathered enough support, one percent of the eligible electorate in his constituency, to pass the first stage. On 3 December 2021, the CEC announced that the recall movement against Lim garnered 27,362 valid signatures, more than
116-589: A second legislative term as an independent in 2020. Lim was an ardent supporter of Chinese unification as a student, because he was taught from China-centric textbooks in middle school and high school. A diagnosis of anxiety in middle school made him ineligible for military duty. Lim formed Chthonic in 1995, during his second year of university, when he began identifying more strongly with his Taiwanese identity. Often known simply as Freddy in Taiwan, Lim chose to name himself after Freddy Krueger . On stage, Lim
145-598: A written response stating that the case "could not be processed further, as it is too difficult to identify the deceased after so much time has passed," which serve as the sole statement of the ROC government for the massacre in 31 years after martial law was lifted in 1987. In August 2019, Lim announced that he would leave the New Power Party to support Tsai Ing-wen in the 2020 Taiwan presidential election . Lim also stated that he would run for legislative reelection as
174-705: Is generally in favor of abolition of capital punishment . The NPP also takes a more left-wing stance compared to the DPP on labor and welfare. The party was established on 25 January 2015. In the 2016 Taiwanese legislative election , the first contested by the party, the NPP won five seats in the Legislative Yuan, making it the third largest party in the Ninth Legislative Yuan. Three of the candidates gained constituency seats and two were elected through
203-593: Is known as "Left Face of Maradou" and wore corpse paint portraying the Ba-Jia-Jiang in performances until 2011, when the band ended their use of corpse paint. With fellow Chthonic member and wife Doris Yeh, Lim started the Taiwan Rock Alliance, and as co-founder of The Wall, helped organize two music festivals, Formoz and Megaport . Lim's stake in The Wall was bought out in 2012, and amid
232-602: Is the lead vocalist of the Taiwanese heavy-metal band Chthonic . and the lead vocalist of the band Metal Clone X [ zh ] started by him and American guitarist Marty Friedman . Lim served as chair of Amnesty International Taiwan from 2010 to 2014. He was one of the founding leaders of the New Power Party (NPP) in Taiwan and represented the party in the Legislative Yuan until 2019. Lim won
261-545: The 1987 Lieyu massacre files in the military archive to render a formal apology to the victims' families through the Vietnamese Representative Office , but Minister of National Defence , General Yen Teh-fa disagreed, claiming that troops followed the standard operating procedure in effect during martial law , and have been court-martialed ; later the Ministry of National Defense issued
290-718: The Democratic Progressive Party . Hsu was named a deputy leader of the NPP on 13 September 2015, and stepped down from that position in March 2016. He served the party within the Legislative Yuan as its first caucus whip. Despite Kuomintang opposition, Hsu and the New Power Party introduced a motion in July 2016 to abolish the Red Cross Society Act of the Republic of China, which exempted
319-616: The New Power Party . The next month Lim declared his candidacy for the 2016 elections , aiming to contest the Daan District legislative seat held by Kuomintang incumbent Chiang Nai-shin . A few weeks later, Lim ceded the race to Social Democratic Party candidate Fan Yun [ zh ] , choosing instead to run against incumbent Kuomintang legislator Lin Yu-fang in the Zhongzheng – Wanhua constituency. The Democratic Progressive Party did not nominate candidates in
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#1732765438960348-669: The Red Cross Society from oversight by the Ministry of the Interior . The order was adopted and promulgated by the Presidential Office on 27 July 2016. On 21 August 2019, Hsu was elected chairman of the New Power Party by a 7–5 vote of its executive council. He was removed from the post on 1 August 2020, following allegations of bribery. Hsu withdrew from the New Power Party four days later. The Taipei District Court ruled in July 2022 that Hsu had violated
377-433: The local elections of November 2018 . Sixteen NPP candidates for local office won. The party nominated candidates for mayor and magisterial posts for the first time prior to the 2022 local elections . Freddy Lim Freddy Lim Tshiong-tso ( Chinese : 林昶佐 ; pinyin : Lín Chǎngzuǒ ; Tâi-lô : Lîm Tshióng-tsò ; born 1 February 1976) is a Taiwanese politician, musician, and independence activist. He
406-541: The Democratic Progressive Party, leading to an easy Kuomintang victory. The KMT won that election without the materialization of a third-party candidate. Hsu believes that increased economic cooperation between Taiwan and China is a manifestation of dependency theory . Hsu joined the New Power Party on 21 June 2015, after failing to secure a legislative nomination in the Taichung area from
435-899: The Tenth Legislative Yuan. The party lost all its seats in the 2024 legislative election , failing to reach the 5 percent threshold for the party-list seats. Freddy Lim Hung Tzu-yung Ko I-chen [ zh ] Lin Yu-kai [ zh ] Kawlo Iyun Pacidal Chen Hui-min Lee Bo-yi (李柏毅) Chen Wei-chung [ zh ] Sabrina Lim [ zh ] Chen Chih-ming [ zh ] Tseng Wen-hsueh (曾玟學) Hsu Yung-ming Lin Yi-ying Hsiao Hsin-cheng [ zh ] Tseng Wei-kai Chiu resigned as party chief on 12 August 2019. Hung left
464-464: The abolition of capital punishment , and supports the legalization of same-sex marriage and marijuana use in Taiwan. Hsu Yung-ming Hsu Yung-ming ( Chinese : 徐永明 ; pinyin : Xú Yǒngmíng ; born 15 May 1966) is a Taiwanese political scientist, pollster, and politician. He represented the New Power Party within the Legislative Yuan from 2016 to 2020. In August 2019, he began serving as NPP chairman. Following his removal from
493-512: The constituency, choosing to support Lim, who defeated Lin in the elections held on 16 January 2016. Lim was assigned to the Foreign and National Defense Committee [ zh ] (FNDC) after taking office. In October, Lim announced the formation of a Tibet caucus in the Legislative Yuan, with himself as caucus leader. On 3 October 2018 during the FNDC session, Lim proposed to re-examine
522-601: The faculty of Soochow University , where he taught political science, and served as director of the Taiwan Brain Trust think tank. After completing his term on the Legislative Yuan and stepping away from party politics, Hsu returned to his teaching position at Soochow. Citing survey data from the Mainlander Taiwanese Association, Hsu opined in 2005 that differing views of the 228 Incident are no longer an ethnic issue, but instead
551-495: The group's local sponsor, Goomusic. In the letter, officials stated that a person seeking to enter Hong Kong for employment "should, amongst other things, possess a special skill, knowledge or experience of value to and not readily available in the HKSAR", and that the immigration Department was not satisfied that Lim met the criteria. Commentator Stephen Vines questioned the black box operation of an unaccountable bureaucracy, saying it
580-465: The party in 2019. In the 2020 Taiwanese legislative election , NPP won three party-list seats. The NPP aims to rewrite the Constitution of the Republic of China , which operates under the assumption that the Republic governs all of China (including mainland China , which the ROC has not governed since 1949), to just refer to Taiwan . The NPP supports the legalization of same-sex marriage and
609-683: The party list. Freddy Lim and Hung Tzu-yung left the NPP in August 2019, though both remained independent members of the Ninth Legislative Yuan and chose to align with the DPP. That same month, NPP legislator Kawlo Iyun Pacidal was suspended from the party. Kawlo, a party-list legislator, was replaced by Jang Show-ling in September 2019. In the 2020 Taiwanese legislative election , the New Power Party won three party list seats, which elected Chen Jiau-hua , Chiu Hsien-chih , and Claire Wang as legislators of
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#1732765438960638-1529: The party on 13 August 2019. Kawlo's party membership was revoked on 2 September 2019. Hsu was suspended on 1 August 2020, with Chiu Hsien-chih taking over as acting party chief. Tseng Wen-hsueh resigned from the party on 23 August 2020. Kao Yu-ting Chiu Hsien-chih Chen Jiau-hua Lin Yu-kai [ zh ] Lin Chia-wei [ zh ] Chang Wei-hang [ zh ] Chien Chih-hsiang [ zh ] Wu Wei-ta [ zh ] Bai Ching-feng [ zh ] Sung Kuo-ting [ zh ] Peng Sheng-shao [ zh ] Li Chao-li [ zh ] Lin Yi-ying Lin Yen-fu [ zh ] Liu yuh-sien [ zh ] Tseng Wei-kai Claire Wang Chiu Hsien-chih Lin Yu-kai [ zh ] Chen Wei-chung [ zh ] Wu Wei-ta [ zh ] Wu Pei-yun [ zh ] Bai Ching-feng [ zh ] Chang Wei-hang [ zh ] Lai Chia-lun [ zh ] Peng Sheng-shao [ zh ] Chien Chih-hsiang [ zh ] Lin Yu-ting [ zh ] Liao Tzu-chi [ zh ] Chen Meng-hsiu The New Power Party fielded 40 candidates for city and county councils across Taiwan in
667-402: The party. On 12 September 2015, the NPP was officially formed with the election of Huang Kuo-chang as executive leader, heading a leadership team of six deputy leaders. The NPP won five legislative seats in the 2016 Taiwanese legislative election , three from constituency and two from party-list votes, beating out long-time third party People First Party . However, two of its legislators left
696-519: The post in August 2020, Hsu withdrew from the party. Hsu graduated from National Taiwan University with a bachelor's degree in political science then earned his Ph.D. in the field from the University of Michigan in 1999. He then began a teaching career at National Chung Cheng University . In the mid-2000s, Hsu was a political analyst and research fellow at Academia Sinica 's Research Center for Humanities and Social Sciences. He later joined
725-482: The recall vote. Although votes to recall Lim outnumbered votes against Lim's recall, low turnout meant that the result was not binding. Lim announced in March 2023 that he did not plan to contest the 2024 Taiwanese legislative election , citing the need to care for an ill relative. On 27 November 2023 he announced that he would join the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), at the urging of Vice President and DPP presidential candidate Lai Ching-te . Lim favors
754-487: The resulting dispute, both festivals were cancelled in 2014. They returned in the next year, organized by Lim's Taiwan Rock Alliance. The Taiwan Rock Alliance has also put on a separate concert since 2000. Originally named Say No to China, the concert occurs some time around the anniversary of the February 28 incident . It then used the name Say Yes to Taiwan until 2007, when it was renamed again to Spirit of Taiwan. Lim
783-591: The ten percent threshold required in the second stage to trigger a recall election. Lim's recall election [ zh ] was held on 9 January 2022, the same day as the replacement vote for Taichung's 2nd legislative district, where Chen Po-wei lost a recall vote [ zh ] in October 2021. Supporters of the recall effort have criticized Lim for his response to the COVID-19 pandemic in his district. A total of 218 polling stations were open during
812-632: Was "no wonder this sort of nonsense was not intended to be made public, otherwise questions might well be asked about whether the newfound musical expertise of the bureaucrats was going to apply to all the very large number of other musicians playing gigs in Hong Kong". In 2020, he started an English podcast with Taiwanese journalist Emily Y. Wu called Metalhead Politics to direct international attention to Taiwan's political issues: "It's important to get people listening to what's going on here — whether they're metalheads or not". In January 2015, Lim founded
841-534: Was elected to lead Amnesty International Taiwan in 2010 and stepped down in 2014. Chthonic was billed to play on the second day of the 2018 On the Pulse of Music Festival, but the performance had to be cancelled because Hong Kong Immigration Department refused to grant Lim a visa. Although the Immigration Department says it does not comment on individual cases, the rejection letter was published by
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