List of political parties in Taiwan

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

The organization of political parties in Taiwan is governed by the Political Parties Act (zh), enacted on 6 December 2017. The Political Parties Act defines political parties as "political groups consisting of Republic of China (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."

Prior to the passage of the Political Parties Act, political organizations in Taiwan followed the Civil Associations Act, also known as the Civil Organizations Act, promulgated in 1989. The Civil Associations Act required that groups held a convention to announce the formation of a political party, and within thirty days of the announcement, provide a list of party members and a party charter to the Ministry of the Interior. 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.

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.


Alliance			Legislative Yuan (National)	Local leaders	Local councillors	Party leader	Cross-Strait position	Ideology	International affiliation
	DPP	Democratic Progressive Party	51 / 113	5 / 22	277 / 910	Lai Ching-te	Huadu Status quo Taiwanese statehood	Progressivism Social liberalism Taiwanese nationalism	LI
	NPP	New Power Party	0 / 113	0 / 22	6 / 910	Claire Wang	Taiwanese statehood	Progressivism Taiwanese nationalism
	TSU	Taiwan Solidarity Union	0 / 113	0 / 22	3 / 910	Liu Yi-te	Taiwanese statehood	Economic nationalism Taiwanese nationalism
	TSP	Taiwan Statebuilding Party	0 / 113	0 / 22	2 / 910	Wang Hsing-huan	Taiwanese statehood	Progressivism Radicalism Taiwanese nationalism
	SDP	Social Democratic Party	0 / 113	0 / 22	1 / 910	Ting Yung-yan	Taiwanese statehood	Social democracy Progressivism
Pan-Green coalition total			51 / 113	5 / 22	290 / 910
	KMT	Chinese Nationalist Party (Kuomintang)	54 / 113	14 / 22	367 / 910	Eric Chu	Status quo 1992 Consensus Unification under ROC	Conservatism Three Principles of the People Chinese nationalism	IDU CDI
	NPSU	Non-Partisan Solidarity Union	0 / 113	0 / 22	7 / 910	Lin Pin-kuan	Status quo 1992 Consensus Unification under ROC	Third Way
	PFP	People First Party	0 / 113	0 / 22	2 / 910	James Soong	Status quo 1992 Consensus Unification under ROC	Liberal conservatism
	NP	New Party	0 / 113	0 / 22	1 / 910	Wu Cherng-dean	1992 Consensus One country, two systems under joint regime	Conservatism Chinese nationalism
Pan-Blue coalition total			54 / 113	14 / 22	377 / 910
	TPP	Taiwan People's Party	8 / 113	2 / 22	14 / 910	Ko Wen-je	Status quo	Social liberalism Populism Civic nationalism
	LP	Labor Party	0 / 113	0 / 22	1 / 910	Wu Rong-yuan	One country, two systems under PRC	Socialism Chinese nationalism
	ZSM	Zheng Shen Min Party	0 / 113	0 / 22	1 / 910	Hsü Jung-Tê		Centrism

Historical parties

Taiwan under Japanese rule

Political party movements in Taiwan started in the late 1910s after World War I, during the Taishō era (Taishō democracy). Taiwanese political movements at this time were to modify the discriminatory colonial laws established in earlier years, and to set up 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:

Taiwan Dōkakai (Chinese: 臺灣同化會; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Tâi-oân Tông-hòa-hōe, Japanese: Taiwan Dōkakai)
New People Society (新民會; Sin-bîn-hōe; Shinminkai)
Taiwanese Cultural Association (臺灣文化協會; Tâi-oân Bûn-hòa Hia̍p-hōe; Taiwan Bunka Kyōkai)
Taiwanese Federation of Workers' Unions (臺灣工友總聯盟; Tâi-oân Kang-iú Chóng Liân-bêng; Taiwan Kōyū Sōrenmei)
Taiwanese Peasants Union (臺灣農民組合; Tâi-oân Lông-bîn Cho͘-ha̍p; Taiwan Nōmin Kumiai)
Taiwanese Communist Party (臺灣共產黨; Tâi-oân Kiōng-sán Tóng; Taiwan Kyōsan-tō)
Taiwanese People's Party (臺灣民眾黨; Tâi-oân Bîn-chiòng Tóng; Taiwan Minshu-tō)
Taiwan Local Autonomy Union (臺灣地方自治聯盟; Tâi-oân Tē-hng Chū-tī Liân-bêng; 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; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Li̍p-hiàn Chèng-iú-hōe)
Kenseikai (憲政会; Hiàn-chèng-hōe)
Rikken Minseitō (立憲民政党; 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 by then-Prime Minister Fumimaro Konoe into a single organization

Imperial Rule Assistance Association (大政翼贊會, Taisei Yokusankai; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Tāi-chèng-i̍k-chàn-hōe)

with its Taiwanese branch

Imperial Subject Public Service Association (皇民奉公會; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Hông-bîn Hōng-kong-hōe)

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 Chinese Communist Party (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 Chinese Communist Party 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 Chinese Communist Party cells in Taiwan, and other opposition parties.

With the Republic of China government rapidly losing the Chinese Civil War against the Chinese Communist Party, 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 Chinese Communist Party 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; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Tiong-kok Kok-bîn-tóng)
Chinese Youth Party (中國青年黨; Zhōngguó Qīngniándǎng; Tiong-kok Chheng-liân-tóng)
China Democratic Socialist Party (中國民主社會黨; Zhōngguó Mínzhǔ Shèhuìdǎng; Tiong-kok Bîn-chú Siā-hoē-tóng)

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; Mínzhǔ Jìnbù Dǎng; Bîn-chú Chìn-pō͘ Tóng).

It was established "illegally" on 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 6 December 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.

Current parties

Parties with national or local representation

Historical parties

Taiwan under Japanese rule

Taiwan under the Republic of China

See also