Chen Yi-chi (陳奕齊), co-founder and chairperson of the Taiwan Statebuilding Party (TSP) announced today that the party will be running at least 4 candidates for the Tainan City Council. Chen also stated that they may run as many as 6 candidates in total in Tainan.
The currently announced candidates include Wang Ming-yan (王明彥) running in the 6th district, Li Zong-lin (李宗霖) in the 10th, Wu Yi-jieh (吳依潔) in the 7th, and Huang Jian-chang (黃建昌) in the 2nd.
Being that the TSP is a small party, they must choose their candidates wisely as resources are far lower than the larger parties in Taiwan. Though trying to get a block of representatives into a city council together may be a good way to attain both real power and recognition. It could also ingratiate the TSP more with the DPP. If they accomplish this, it is possible that the DPP will forgo primarying them in safe districts around the country, likely giving them their base in whatever location they are running in, just like in the case of Chen Po-wei back in the 2020 elections.
The TSP seems to be well aware of its position and to be strategizing accordingly. When Chen Yi-chi was asked recently about if they were going to run a candidate for the mayoral race in Tainan, he stated that the party would support whomever the DPP put forward, this is likely to be current Mayor of Tainan Huang Wei-che (黃偉哲).
This tactic of picking their battles may lead to increasing popularity for the party especially in deep Green areas and with younger people as the party is much more explicitly pro-independence than more centrist pan-Green parties like the DPP. The results of the coming elections in November are likely to give us some insight into the longevity of the party.