After an impressive start, the NP has faded steadily over the past few elections, and suffered an especially sharp blow in the election for mayor of Taipei two years ago. NP votes drifted to Ma Ying-jeou, a member of the KMT (albeit not one of Lee Teng-hui's personal favorites). The NP candidate received only an anemic percentage of the ballots, bringing the party to the edge of collapse.
新黨在接連的選舉中失利，尤其前年底的台北市長選舉，選票流向國民黨非李登輝人馬的馬英九，讓當初以「反李」為主要訴求，而從國民黨分裂出來的新黨走向泡沫化。