Miao Po-ya is a legislative candidate in Taipei’s Wenshan district. She represents the Social Democratic Party (SDP), which – at less than a year old – is one of Taiwan’s newest political parties.

The SDP is among a growing number of smaller parties, collectively known as the ‘Third Force’, which is hoping to break the dominance of the two major parties come polling day on Saturday (16 Jan).

Currently, Taiwan’s 113-seat legislature is dominated by the Kuomintang (KMT), which holds 64 seats, and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which has 40 seats. Small parties have a mere toehold, occupying only eight seats.

… Other issues minor parties’ face, according to Taiwan expert Wu Shang-su, are a lack of inter-party unity, and unrealistic welfarist policies.

“Taiwan’s government already has many, many years of deficit, so the debt is actually getting higher and higher,” said Dr Wu, a research fellow at Nanyang Technological University’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies.