Small but Mighty: Third Parties in Taiwan's 2024 Election

Small but Mighty:Third Parties in Taiwan's 2024 Election Lev Nachman (bio) When we think about political parties in Taiwan, we traditionally only consider the two big-tent parties: the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Kuomintang (KMT, or Chinese Nationalist Party). But thanks to a unique electoral system, other small parties have played a critical role in Taiwan's electoral politics ever since democratization. Despite having never won the presidency, small parties have won important seats from mayorships to elected members of the Legislative Yuan. Due to their independence from the two big parties, small parties are able to advocate for or push through narrower or more radical policy issues. One example was the proposal of the New Power Party (NPP) to remove the name "Republic of China" from Taiwan's passport cover to only include the word "Taiwan."1 Although such a radical policy was never going to pass, it pushed the DPP to at least change the passport cover to increase the size of the name "Taiwan" and make the "Republic of China" smaller. While it was not a radical change, this case shows the potential of small parties to pull the two big parties in directions they otherwise would not go. No discourse on small parties in Taiwan could begin without acknowledging the Taiwan People's Party (TPP). This small party played a disproportionally large role in the 2024 election in a way that no small party has since perhaps the NPP in 2016. Additionally, no small party has ever seen as much success in a major election as the TPP in 2024. The party now plays the role of kingmaker in the Legislative Yuan despite holding only eight seats. We can no longer ignore the role of third parties in Taiwan, especially considering just how much potential they have for influence in the next four years. This essay will begin by explaining how small parties are able to compete against big parties in Taiwan's unique electoral system. Next, it will examine how the TPP formed, grew, and became a tour de force in End Page 101 Taiwan's political arena. The essay will then discuss other small parties that have been competitive in the last three major elections, particularly the NPP, and assess their status after the 2024 election. Finally, the essay will conclude with an assessment of what to look for from small parties in the next four years and what small parties represent in Taiwan's growing democratic system. Taiwan's Electoral System: Designed with Small Parties in Mind Contrary to what the disproportionate coverage of the DPP and KMT conveys, Taiwan's electoral system was intentionally created to allow small parties to meaningfully compete with larger parties. This is due to Taiwan's unique mixed electoral system. Electoral reform in 2008 provided Taiwanese voters with multiple ways to elect politicians from different parties. Taiwan uses a mixture of first-past-the-post and proportional representation systems in national elections. In the 2024 election, the presidency and 73 of 113 of the Legislative Yuan seats were decided through first past the post, in which members are elected based on who receives the most votes.2 According to Duverger's Law, this system of voting almost always leads to a two-party political system, which is the structural reason why the DPP and KMT have grown into two fairly moderate political parties just left and right of center within Taiwan's political spectrum.3 This system is familiar to Americans as it is the same way the U.S. president and members of Congress are elected. What makes the election of the Legislative Yuan different, however, is that 34 seats are reserved for a proportional representation vote. This additional vote is important because it gives voters the freedom to support any political party they want, even if that party is different from that of the person they picked for president or the Legislative Yuan. For example, if a voter selects the DPP for president and local representative, he or she can additionally vote for another party in the party list. If that party receives 5% of the total party votes cast across...