In the 2004 presidential election, the KMT-PFP joint ticket of Lien Chan and James Soong narrowly lost to President Chen Shui-bian.

[note 1] The party maintains a close but tense relationship with the Kuomintang (KMT) as part of the pan-blue coalition.

[2] To avoid a repeat of this effect, which led to the election of Democratic Progressive Party candidate Chen Shui-bian to the presidency in 2000 by a low share of votes,[3] Chairman Soong ran as vice-president on KMT Chairman Lien Chan's presidential ticket in the 2004 presidential election.

[5] At this point, with no clear goals, the PFP faced an uncertain future, and considered merging with the Kuomintang (KMT).

In September 2011, James Soong mounted the PFP's first presidential bid and selected academic Ruey-Shiung Lin to be his running mate for the 2012 election, collecting enough signatures to make it on the ballot.

[8][9] On election day, the Soong-Lin ticket underperformed and garnered 2.77% of votes, while Ma Ying-jeou of the KMT defeated Tsai Ing-wen of the DPP by a margin of 51.60% to 45.63%.