TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A minor party standing for election for the first time in Taiwan placed fifth in party votes during the Jan. 13 election, outperforming other more established minor political parties.
The Taiwan Obasang Political Equality Party (TOPEP) gained over 128,000 votes on Saturday, representing 0.93% of the total party vote. Though far from the 5% threshold needed to enter the legislature, TOPEP outperformed the Green Party Taiwan, formed in 1996, and the Taiwan Statebuilding Party, formed in 2016.
The TOPEP released a statement on Saturday after the result and said that after a hard campaign, it is happy that its political views have been heard. “We are inspired by the masses and feel confident that we can fight for another four years,” the statement read.
The party was formally registered in 2020, though was formed as an alliance in 2017. The party was formed by members of parents’ groups and child education advocacy groups.
A profile on TOPEP published by Parenting Taiwan describes the party’s priorities as children’s human rights, environmental justice, gender quality, labor rights, and “ordinary people’s” participation in politics.
According to a bio of the party from Taiwan’s Ministry of Culture, the term “obasan” refers to middle-aged and elderly women in Japanese. The term was chosen by the group because it has many mothers as members, and the group has a self-reported membership of 90% women.
(Taiwan Obasang Alliance for Political Equality image)
