List of political parties in Taiwan

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This article lists the political parties in the Republic of China (Taiwan) from 7 December 1949.

The organization of political parties in the Republic of China (ROC), are governed by the Political Parties Act, enacted on 6 December 2017. Prior to the passage of the Political Parties Act, political organizations in Taiwan followed the Civil Associations Act, promulgated in 1989. The Political Parties Act defines political parties as "political groups consisting of ROC citizens with a common political ideology who safeguard the free, democratic, constitutional order, assist in shaping the political will of the people, and nominate candidates for election to public office."^[1][2]

Groups established when the Civil Associations Act was in effect should have revised their charters to comply with the Political Parties Act by 7 December 2019. To be compliant with the Political Parties Act, political groups must additionally convene a representative assembly or party congress for four consecutive years and have followed relevant laws and regulations governing the nomination of candidates to campaign in elections for public office for the same time period. Within one year of filing for political party status, a political group must complete legal person registration. The Ministry of the Interior requires that political parties submit annual property and financial statements. Political organizations that do not meet these regulations were dissolved and removed from the registry of political parties.^[1][2]

Current parties[]

Parties with national or local representation[]

• National representation includes the President, the Vice President, and the 113 national legislator seats in the Legislative Yuan.
• Local representation includes the 22 mayors/magistrates executive positions and 912 local legislator (councils) seats of the 6 special municipalities, 3 cities and 13 counties.

Party		Representation			Party leader	Cross-Strait position	Ideologies	Notes
		National	Local
			Leaders	Councillors
	Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)[I]	Ruling party 61	6	238	Tsai Ing-wen	Status quo, Taiwanese statehood	Progressivism, Taiwanese nationalism	Member of Liberal International
	Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)[II]	38	15	394	Johnny Chiang	Status quo, Chinese reunification under ROC	Conservatism, Chinese nationalism, Three Principles of the People	Member of International Democrat Union
	Taiwan People's Party[III]	5	1	—	Ko Wen-je	Status quo	Pluralism, Centrism
	New Power Party[IV]	3	—	16	Kao Yu-ting	Taiwanese statehood	Social democracy, Taiwanese nationalism
	Taiwan Statebuilding Party[V]	1	—	—		Taiwanese statehood	Taiwanese nationalism	Aligned with the DPP
	People First Party[VI]	—	—	8	James Soong	Status quo, Chinese reunification under ROC	Liberal conservatism, Chinese nationalism
	Non-Partisan Solidarity Union[VII]	—	—	5	Lin Pin-kuan	Unknown	Conservative liberalism
	Taiwan Solidarity Union[VIII]	—	—	5	Liu Yi-te	Taiwanese statehood	Taiwanese nationalism
	Green Party Taiwan[IX]	—	—	3		Status quo	Green politics	Member of the Social Welfare National Alliance in Taiwan, also a member of Global Greens
	Labor Party[X]	—	—	2		Chinese reunification	Socialism, Chinese nationalism
	New Party[XI]	—	—	2	Wu Cherng-dean	Chinese reunification under ROC	Conservatism, Chinese nationalism
	For Public Good Party[XII]	—	—	1		Chinese reunification	Chinese nationalism
	Social Democratic Party[XIII]	—	—	1		Status quo	Social democracy	Member of the Social Welfare National Alliance in Taiwan

Full list of registered political parties[]

The following is a full list of registered political parties according to the Ministry of the Interior, by order of registration. Dates indicate date of founding.

Historical parties[]

Taiwan under Japanese rule[]

Political party movements in Taiwan started in the late 1910s after World War I, during the Taishō period (Taishō Democracy). Taiwanese political movements at this time were to modify the discriminatory colonial laws established in earlier years, and to setup local autonomy systems like in Mainland Japan. The largest political movement at this time was the Petition Movement for the Establishment of a Taiwanese Parliament. At the same time, the International Communist Movement also influenced Taiwan, many Left-wing parties and organizations were also established.

Notable Taiwanese parties during this time are:

• (臺灣同化會, Taiwanese Hokkien: Tâi-oân Tông-hòa-hōe, Japanese: Taiwan Dōkakai)
• New People Society (新民會, Taiwanese Hokkien: Sin-bîn-hōe, Japanese: Shinminkai)
• Taiwanese Cultural Association (臺灣文化協會, Taiwanese Hokkien: Tâi-oân Bûn-hòa Hia̍p-hōe, Japanese: Taiwan Bunka Kyōkai)
• (臺灣工友總聯盟, Taiwanese Hokkien: Tâi-oân Kang-iú Chóng Liân-bêng, Japanese: Taiwan Kōyū Sōrenmei)
• (臺灣農民組合, Taiwanese Hokkien: Tâi-oân Lông-bîn Cho͘-ha̍p, Japanese: Taiwan Nōmin Kumiai)
• Taiwanese Communist Party (臺灣共產黨, Taiwanese Hokkien: Tâi-oân Kiōng-sán Tóng, Japanese: Taiwan Kyōsan-tō)
• Taiwanese People's Party (臺灣民眾黨, Taiwanese Hokkien: Tâi-oân Bîn-chiòng Tóng, Japanese: Taiwan Minshu-tō)
• (臺灣地方自治聯盟, Taiwanese Hokkien: Tâi-oân Tē-hng Chū-tī Liân-bêng, Japanese: Taiwan Tihō-jiti Renmei)

At the same time, the political parties in Mainland Japan also affected Taiwan. Those who served as Governor-General of Taiwan were also members of the House of Peers of the Imperial Diet (帝国議会). Party affiliations of the Governor-Generals were:

• Rikken Seiyūkai (立憲政友会, Taiwanese Hokkien: Li̍p-hiàn Chèng-iú-hōe)
• Kenseikai (憲政会, Taiwanese Hokkien: Hiàn-chèng-hōe)
• Rikken Minseitō (立憲民政党, Taiwanese Hokkien: Li̍p-hiàn Bîn-chèng Tóng)

In the late 1930s, the Empire of Japan joined the Second World War. To prepare for the Pacific War, all political parties in Mainland Japan were merged into a single organization

• Imperial Rule Assistance Association (大政翼贊會, Taisei Yokusankai, Taiwanese Hokkien: Tāi-chèng-i̍k-chàn-hōe)

with its Taiwanese branch

• (皇民奉公會, Taiwanese Hokkien: Hông-bîn Hōng-kong-hōe, Japanese: Kōmin Hōkōkai)

was the only legal political party-like organization in Taiwan until the end of World War II.

Taiwan under the Republic of China[]

Taiwan was ceded back to the Republic of China, founded in 1912 on the mainland, on 25 October 1945. From 1945 until 1949, political parties in China which had operated covertly under Japanese rule were permitted to operate in Taiwan province. The ruling Kuomintang set up formal branches in Taiwan, and so did other major political parties including the Communist Party of China (in 1946). Although it had no formal connection with the Taiwanese Communist Party suppressed by Japanese authorities in the 1930s (which was instead affiliated with the Communist Party of Japan), the Taiwan branch of the Communist Party of China absorbed many former members of the Taiwanese Communist Party. However, against the backdrop of the Chinese Civil War which erupted soon after the retrocession of Taiwan, the Kuomintang-controlled Republic of China government attempted to restrict the operation of Communist Party of China cells in Taiwan, and other opposition parties.

With the Republic of China government rapidly losing the Chinese Civil War against the Communist Party of China, the ruling Kuomintang began preparing to move the government to Taiwan in 1949. Taiwan was placed under martial law from 19 May 1949 to 15 July 1987. The Taiwan provincial branch of the Communist Party of China was particularly targeted, and by 1952 had been completely destroyed.

During this time, all forms of opposition were forbidden by the government, only three political parties that retreated to Taiwan were allowed to participate the elections.

• Kuomintang (Chinese: 中國國民黨; pinyin: Zhōngguó Guómíndǎng; Taiwanese Hokkien: Tiong-kok Kok-bîn-tóng)^{[note 2]}
• Chinese Youth Party (中國青年黨; pinyin: Zhōngguó Qīngniándǎng; Taiwanese Hokkien: Tiong-kok Chheng-liân-tóng)
• China Democratic Socialist Party (中國民主社會黨 pinyin: Zhōngguó Mínzhǔ Shèhuìdǎng, Taiwanese Hokkien: Tiong-kok Bîn-chú Siā-hoē-tóng)^{[note 3]}

All other oppositions who were not allowed not form a political party could only be listed as "independent candidate". These movements were called Tangwai movement (黨外, literally outside of Kuomintang). A notable exception in this era was

• Democratic Progressive Party (民主進步黨; Taiwanese Hokkien: Bîn-chú Chìn-pō͘ Tóng; pinyin: Mínzhǔ Jìnbù Dǎng).

It was established "illegally" in 28 September 1986, then was legalized in the next year by the lifting of the martial law.

As Taiwan democratized in the late 1980s, the number of legally registered political parties in Taiwan had increased exponentially and continued to increase year by year, indicating a liberal democracy and high political freedom in Taiwan.

Number of registered political parties by year

Year	1990	1992	1994	1996	1998	2000	2002	2004	2006	2008	2010	2012	2014	2016	2017		2018
No. parties	60	72	75	82	87	94	99	110	122	145	177	234	264	310	334		220

In recent decades, Taiwan's political campaigns can be classified to two ideological blocs

• The Pan-Green Coalition, led by Democratic Progressive Party, favors Taiwanization and the Taiwan independence movement, eventually aiming to establish a Taiwanese sovereign state.
• The Pan-Blue Coalition, led by Kuomintang, is in favor of building closer ties with mainland China and the eventual Chinese unification under the Government of the Republic of China.

The majority in both coalitions state a desire to maintain the status quo for now. Many minor parties in Taiwan are unaligned with either coalition.

On December 6, 2017, the Political Parties Act (政黨法) was enforced. The Act requires the political parties to maintain a number of compliance, including

• File a declaration to the Ministry of the Interior, AND register as a legal person to a District Court,
• Convene representative assembly or party congress at least once in a four-year period,
• Nominate candidates in national or local elections at least once in a four-year period, and
• Compliance on funding source, accounting, and financial transparency.

By the end of 2018, among the 343 existing political party declarations: 220 have met the new compliance, 56 chose to dissolve or transformed to a national political association.

See also[]

• Conservatism in Taiwan
• Progressivism in Taiwan
• February 28 Incident
• History of Taiwan
• Economic history of Taiwan
• Politics of the Republic of China
• Political parties of the Empire of Japan
• History of political parties in China
• List of political parties by country
• List of rulers of Taiwan
• Elections in Taiwan

Notes[]

Words in native languages[]

References[]

External links[]

• Ministry of the Interior (Taiwan)
• The website of Parties and National Political Associations — Ministry of the Interior (Taiwan)
• Political Parties Act
• Document unearthed shows double-dealing of Chiang behind 228 Incident - Taiwan News