Wu Pei-Yun: Third Time's a Charm

Wu Pei-yun, aged 30, is running for Taichung city councilor in Nantun District, representing the New Power Party (NPP).

Unlike most candidacies in this election cycle, this will be Wu’s third attempt at elected office. Wu’s first election was in 2018 for city councilor, initially losing by nine votes. This outcome was disputed in court. After a recount, Wu still lost by eight votes.

In the 2020 legislative election, Wu was placed eighth on the NPP’s list of at-large candidates. With the departure of party heavyweights such as Legislator Freddy Lim and Former Legislator Hung Tzu-yung, as well as the rise of third-party alternatives, the NPP was only able to obtain three seats.

Given not one, but two setbacks at the ballot, courage doesn’t begin to describe the tenacity Wu demonstrates by running once again– in the same district she lost in 2018.

“Was I disappointed, was I dismayed by the results? To be honest,” she said, “those emotions were unavoidable, but I knew that the road of politics requires an even higher degree of determination. My defeat from four years ago opened new doors for me.”

Prior to 2018, Wu studied to become a pharmacist. Like many her age, 2014 became a political watershed moment. During the student-led Sunflower Movement, she served in the medical center, where she patched up those who were injured in the pursuit of democracy.

After the movement, Wu became involved in student leadership at the China Medical University, where she studied. As student council president, she worked to enhance the rights of fellow students, pushing back against what she saw as injustices.

“As a student, I never imagined entering politics,” Wu said. After graduating, she worked as a pharmacist, yet politics came calling all the same. In 2017, she took up an offer to join the NPP with the very minds behind the Sunflower Movement.

Shortly after joining, Wu quickly became involved in Taichung. She was deeply unsatisfied with local representatives who missed out on meetings, wasted time at the city council sessions, and misused taxpayer dollars. This pushed her to run for city councilor in 2018, but what awaited her was yet another disappointment.

“Only when I ran for office, did I discover that the election culture in Taiwan was rooted deeply in traditional brokers and local factions,” Wu said, vowing to one day defy these unjust obstacles.

As a political outsider, Wu lacked the finance local politicians invested in fostering long-term ties. As the youngest candidate in Taichung during that cycle, she found that even getting her name out posed a higher threshold for young and inexperienced politicians from a minor party.

“We may not have the popularity and resources like other candidates, but we started walking on our own two feet, giving public talks and putting our platforms forward,” she said, “for all those who were willing to give us a chance.”

Riding the wave of the Sunflower Movement, the NPP’s grassroots strategy in 2018 was largely successful, seeing the rise of many young local politicians. Wu’s efforts were also reflected in the Taichung race, but she ultimately fell short of victory.

Four years later, much has changed– for better and for worse. Wu represents the same party in the same district, but even by her own admission, the NPP has seen many of its former allies jump ship. However, more have joined its ranks, with 90% of its members being youths by Wu’s own estimate.

“If the ideals we stand by remain strong, the NPP still has a part to play in Taiwan’s future,” said Wu, proposing policies in childcare, labor rights, housing justice, climate, and defending Taiwan’s sovereignty.

Wu is not at all shy when calling out undemocratic, and even “dicatorial” aspects, of the major political parties, be it in the Kuomintang (KMT) or the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). She believes that the NPP can find common ground with major parties but should never compromise its values.

Apart from a willingness to nominate young candidates, the NPP also provides ambitious youths like Wu various support in stepping into politics. The party assists its candidates in fundraising to meet the election deposit– in Wu’s case, NT$200,000– required by the Central Election Commission.

Furthermore, Wu said that the party’s legislative caucus acts as each candidate’s “brain trust,” providing their knowledge and experiences with national legislation to help guide their local platforms. When elected, these local proposals can in turn connect with the party’s efforts at the national level.

In Nantun district, Wu sees young families moving in every day, and even more beginning to recognize her from her 2018 run and her continued service in Taichung. This gives her hope.

“It’s really been tough,” Wu said with a chuckle when reflecting on campaigning thus far, “and I’m not playing the sympathy card.”

Wu wants voters to see that Taiwanese politics is not only a meaningless two-party battleground, but young people such as those found in the NPP, even when lacking in resources, have not given up their vision to bring forward a more just society in Taiwan.

This is the same grit that Wu continues to demonstrate each day as she campaigns for the third time.