The results of recall votes yesterday dealt a blow to the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) efforts to overturn the opposition-controlled legislature, as all 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers survived the recall bids.
Backed by President William Lai’s (賴清德) DPP, civic groups led the recall drive, seeking to remove 31 out of 39 KMT lawmakers from the 113-seat legislature, in which the KMT and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) together hold a majority with 62 seats, while the DPP holds 51 seats.
The scale of the recall elections was unprecedented, with another seven KMT lawmakers facing similar votes on Aug. 23.
Photo: CNA
For a lawmaker to lose their seat, the number of votes in favor of recalling them must exceed those against, and must be more than 25 percent of the total number of registered voters in the electorate.
Recall votes against suspended Hsinchu Mayor Ann Kao (高虹安), formerly a member of the TPP, as well as all 24 KMT lawmakers failed to pass, with most losing by sizeable margins, Central Election Commission (CEC) figures showed.
In Taipei, people lined up in school hallways and temples. Agence France-Presse saw an elderly man arrive at an elementary school in an ambulance, which had brought him from a hospital so he could vote.
Photo: CNA
Public opinion had been divided over the recalls, which have dominated newspaper headlines and social media feeds for months.
“I am not satisfied with their job performance,” retired doctor Jeremy Chen, 54, said, adding that he was “also worried about the pro-China stance of some lawmakers.”
However, a 46-year-old man surnamed Lee said the lawmakers had not “committed any crimes” and that the DPP wanted to control the legislature for “its one-party dominance.”
Source: CEC
“That is not democracy,” Lee said after voting against the recall.
If next month’s recall votes also fail, the outcome would signal that the Lai government could continue to face strong resistance from within the legislature before the next legislative elections, which are expected to take place in 2028.
Political analyst Lev Nachman said that whatever the outcome, political divisions in Taiwan were certain to deepen.
Source: CEC
“The way that the recalls have played out have been perhaps some of the most divisive language used toward both camps that I think I’ve ever seen,” Nachman said.
Over the past few months, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) has compared Lai’s government to Adolf Hitler’s Nazi regime, while Lai, who is the DPP chairman, has spoken of “removing impurities” to defend Taiwan’s sovereignty.
Beijing has loomed large over the recall vote, with Taipei warning of “visible evidence” that China was trying to interfere in the process.
The KMT’s ties with Beijing and frequent visits by its lawmakers to China have raised concerns among critics over Chinese influence on the party.
However, the KMT has rejected accusations that it is beholden to Beijing, and insists that dialogue with China is needed to ensure peace.
Meanwhile, Kao’s survival yesterday means that the DPP would not be able to take hold of the city.
Had the recall succeeded, the Cabinet would have appointed an acting mayor, because Kao has less than half of her four-year term remaining, which would have allowed the central government to take control of the city’s administration.
“Because of you, I feel that I am definitely not alone,” Kao said at a post-vote news conference.
Kao is appealing a sentence of seven years and four months, after she was found guilty of corruption in July last year.
She was suspended as Hsinchu mayor soon after.
A signaling system malfunction disrupted high-speed rail (HSR) services beginning at 8am today, with trains temporarily reduced to three northbound and three southbound trains per hour as authorities conduct inspections. The malfunction occurred on a section of track in Miaoli County during pre-operation checks early this morning, forcing northbound and southbound trains to use a single track, the HSR operator said. The regular schedule has been replaced with three hourly trains offering only nonreserved seating in each direction, stopping at every station, it said, adding that business class cars would still have reserved seating. Departures from terminal stations are scheduled at the top
Taiwan is still in the process of assessing the possibility of recruiting workers from Eswatini, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday, adding that its goal is to help Eswatini upgrade its vocational training centers. If there are plans to recruit workers from Eswatini, safeguarding national security, protecting public health and ensuring the employment rights of Taiwanese would be prerequisites, Department of West Asian and African Affairs Director-General Yen Chia-liang (顏嘉良) told a news conference. Key considerations would also include filling labor shortages in specific industries, and fostering bilateral professional and technical exchanges, he said. Yen was asked about the progress of labor
VERBOSE VESSELS: A CGA cutter and a China Coast Guard exchanged verbal barbs for more than a day in Taiwanese-controlled waters before the Chinese vessel left The Taiwanese and Chinese coast guards had a standoff near the strategically located Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the north of the South China Sea, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The two sides engaged in intense radio exchanges over sovereignty claims during the 33-hour standoff. China Coast Guard vessel 3501 eventually left the restricted waters, 26.6 nautical miles (49.2km) west of the Pratas Islands, at 5pm yesterday, the CGA said. Lying approximately between southern Taiwan and Hong Kong, the Taiwan-controlled Pratas are seen by some security experts as vulnerable to Chinese attack due to their distance — more than
WARNING: China should stop engaging in actions that undermine regional peace and stability, as it would only build resentment among people across the Strait, the CGA said China has deployed more than 100 navy, coast guard and other vessels in waters from the Yellow Sea to the South China Sea and the western Pacific since US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) met in Beijing, National Security Council Secretary-General Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said yesterday. “In this part of the world, #China is the one & only PROBLEM wrecking the #StatusQuo & threatening regional peace & stability,” Wu wrote on X. In a separate post, he said Beijing was coercing Taiwan’s maritime domain, calling it illegal and provocative, after the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) expelled a
RSS