On September 28, 1986, the establishment of Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was announced at the Grand Hotel in Taipei. Thus, the first local Taiwanese political party since 1949 was born. Most of the early representatives were core figures from the Dangwai ("Outside the Party", that is, non-aligned with the Kuomintang) movement during the martial law period. These people included Shih Ming-te, Huang Hsin-chieh, Lin Yi-hsiung, Annette Lu Hsiu-lien, Chen Chu, Chang Chun-hung, Yao Chia-wen, and others who had also been involved in the 1979 Formosa Incident.

After the lifting of martial law in Taiwan in 1987, the Democratic Progressive Party continued to launch a series of social movements with people from all walks of life. These movements included lifting bans on news reporting, across-the-board congressional elections, and holding direct Presidential elections. On April 17, 1988, the DPP passed the "Four Ifs" resolution, which advocated that if the Kuomintang (National People's Party, KMT) and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) were to conduct one-sided peace talks; if the KMT were to sell out the interests of the people of Taiwan; if the CCP were to attempt to make Taiwan part of the PRC; or if the KMT did not implement a genuine democratic constitutional government, then the DPP would advocate for Taiwan independence. In 1991, the Democratic Progressive Party adopted the "Taiwan Independence Program" as the party's ideological and political platform. Later Taiwanese politics have often seen confrontations between the ideologies of Chinese unification and Taiwanese independence.

In 2000, the DPP nominated Chen Shui-bian and Annette Lu for President and Vice-President. In the end, they won by nearly 5 million votes, ending the 55-year KMT rule and completing the first transfer of political party power in Taiwan history.

References: Democrative Progressive Party (https://www.dpp.org.tw/about); Ministry of Culture National Cultural Database (https://nrch.culture.tw/twpedia.aspx?id=3882)、Democratic Progressive Party Platform (https://www.dpp.org.tw/upload/download/黨綱.pdf), Central Election Committee Election Database Website(https://db.cec.gov.tw/histQuery.jsp?voteCode=20000301P1A1&qryType=ctks)