The New Party nominated independent social commentator Li Ao—an acclaimed author, historian, and former political prisoner—for president and legislator Elmer Fung for vice president. Li, who supported "one country, two systems", said he took the election as an opportunity to educate the people in Taiwan on his ideas, and show them the nation's "dark side". Despite his nomination Li refused to join the NP. Both he and the NP publicly encouraged people to vote for James Soong to the point of stating during the televised presidential debates that he was not planning to vote for himself and that people should vote for Soong so that the pro-unification vote would not be split.
