Taipei, Feb. 15 (CNA) Acting Chairman of Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) was elected Saturday to lead the opposition party until the end of 2026.
Huang, a TPP legislator-at-large who has been serving as acting TPP chairman since January, won the chairmanship by-election by a huge margin, gaining 8,903 votes to his competitor Tsai Pi-ru’s (蔡壁如) 360.
In the online voting that was held 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday, just over 47 percent of the 19,320 eligible party members cast ballots, with 96.11 percent voting for Huang, and 3.89 percent for Tsai.
Following his huge win in the by-election, Huang will serve as leader of Taiwan’s second largest opposition party until Dec. 31 next year, when the second four-year term of his predecessor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) was slated to end.
Ko, the TPP’s founder and 2024 presidential candidate, resigned as chairman of the party on Jan. 1, following his indictment and detention on corruption charges.
At the time, Ko said he would not allow his personal issues to impede the development of the TPP, which he described as a “major political force” in Taiwan.
Huang, a legal scholar, rose to prominence through his civic activism, including his participation in the 2014 Sunflower Student Movement, which was a protest against the passage of a cross-strait service trade agreement that was pushed through the Legislature by the then-ruling Kuomintang (KMT) without a clause-by-clause review.
Huang later joined the New Power Party (NPP) and became its first executive chairman in 2015. The following year, he was elected to the Legislature, with the help of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which won the presidential election and secured a legislative majority that year.
In 2020, Huang did not seek reelection to the Legislature but rather started directing his activism to the protection of whistleblowers. In 2023, Ko invited Huang to join the TPP, and the following year, the latter became a TPP legislator-at-large.
Before Ko resigned as TPP chairman in January, he endorsed Huang, which gave the latter a boost with the mainstream faction of the party.
In a Facebook post Saturday, Huang thanked all the TPP members who voted in the by-election, whether or not they supported him, and he promised to work hard for the party.
Amid competition from the DPP and KMT, Huang said, he will lead the growth of the TPP to meet the expectations of the Taiwanese people for a grassroots political party.
He urged all TPP members to unite and help make Ko proud of the party.
Tsai also posted a message on Facebook, calling on all party members to fully support the newly elected TPP chairman.
TPP sources told CNA Saturday that when Huang was acting chairman of the TPP, he was striving to maintain the status quo of the party, but with his commanding win on Saturday, he is likely to carve out his own style.
Despite the headwinds that the TPP has been facing amid the corruption allegations against Ko, there has been no mass exodus of party members, according to the sources.
However, when Huang officially takes the helm on Feb. 19, he will have to deal with some challenges, the sources said.
For example, they said, there are doubts within the party that Huang has the experience to choose appropriate persons from the TPP to head the party’s local offices around Taiwan, when the terms of the incumbents end soon.
Huang’s major challenge will arise in 2026, when local government elections are due to be held, the sources said, adding that the results will inform the TPP’s strategies in the 2028 presidential and legislative elections.
Another task for Huang and his party is finding ways to cooperate with the main opposition KMT while at the same time competing to secure political gains for the TPP, the sources said.
A proviso that Ko introduced in 2024 for the TPP’s eight legislators-at-large to compete in elections after two years in their current position will present another challenge for Huang, the sources said.
If Huang fails to honor Ko’s proviso, he risks undermining public trust in the party, the sources said.
