The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) have called on the public to cast “no” votes in the upcoming recall elections involving 24 KMT lawmakers, saying it is necessary to oppose one-party dominance by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
At an “anti-recall” event in Taipei yesterday morning, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said his party would adopt a “regional joint defense” strategy to mobilize support for KMT lawmakers facing recall and improve coordination among local governments headed by the party to counter the recall campaign.
The Central Election Commission (CEC) on Friday announced that a recall vote would be held on July 26, after it approved the first batch of recall vote motions against 24 KMT lawmakers and suspended Hsinchu Mayor Ann Kao (高虹安), a former TPP member.
Photo: CNA
The KMT lawmakers facing recall votes include Fu Kun-chi (傅?萁), Wang Hung-wei (王鴻薇), Hsu Chiao-hsin (徐巧芯), Lee Yen-hsiu (李彥秀), Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強) and Lai Shyh-bao (賴士葆), the CEC said.
The KMT currently holds 52 seats in the legislature and, together with the TPP, which holds eight seats, forms a majority bloc. The DPP holds 51 seats.
“We do not have the kind of unlimited central government resources that the DPP has... which allow them to coordinate with government agencies to carry out campaign support work,” Chu said yesterday. “All we can do is stay united.”
Chu said he had asked Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) — a KMT figure with high approval ratings — to visit different parts of Taiwan to support KMT lawmakers facing recalls and to exert “her greatest influence.”
The KMT caucus in a statement on Friday urged those who support the KMT, democracy and the rule of law to vote against the recalls.
“To defend democracy and oppose the DPP’s one-party dominance and continued harm to Taiwan, please come out and cast your sacred ‘no’ vote against the recalls,” it said, adding that doing so would “save Taiwan” and protect judicial independence.
In a statement issued on Friday, TPP Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) also called on the public to cast a “no” vote in the recall elections, saying that such a vote would not only reject political infighting, but also serve as a vote of “no confidence” in President William Lai (賴清德), who heads the DPP.
The DPP should admit that the recall campaign is a political tool it launched after failing to accept defeat in the legislative elections and that its ultimate goal is to return to one-party rule under the DPP, Huang said.
The recall drive against the KMT lawmakers, launched by civil society groups and supported by the DPP, marks an unprecedented campaign to remove nearly all KMT lawmakers elected to the Legislative Yuan last year.
Meanwhile, the eight TPP legislators serving in the legislature hold at-large seats, which are allocated based on the proportion of votes their party received through the party list ballot, rather than being elected through district-based elections.
Under the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法), “recall provisions shall not apply to electees in elections for legislators at-large,” making TPP lawmakers ineligible for recall under the current system.
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