TAIPEI: Taiwan heads to the polls Saturday (July 26) for an unprecedented vote that could recall up to 24 lawmakers, potentially ending opposition control of the legislature.
Voting is scheduled to run from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. in two dozen districts, all held by opposition Kuomintang legislators. Up to 6.8 million people are eligible to take part, roughly 36 per cent of the electorate.
Thousands of recall supporters and those against it rallied on Friday evening in Taipei, undeterred by rain from a storm passing north of the island. The two camps were only hundreds of metres apart, and voters on both sides shouted slogans and waved flags. The gatherings were peaceful.
Saturday’s ballot is the culmination of months of work by civil society groups - backed by President Lai Ching-te’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party - who say the KMT has endangered the island democracy by collaborating with Beijing. The KMT denies those claims, while its own attempts to recall DPP lawmakers failed to meet legal hurdles.
The DPP currently holds 51 seats in the legislature, while the opposition - the KMT, the Taiwan People’s Party and independent allies - hold a combined 62 seats. A successful recall of 12 KMT lawmakers would give the DPP control of the chamber, at least until by-elections can be held.
On top of Saturday’s vote, a further seven KMT districts face recall votes on Aug. 23.
For the DPP, a successful recall could help Lai push his agenda in the legislature, at least in the short term, after months of fighting over everything from budget spending to judicial appointments.
A failed recall may in turn underscore voter exhaustion at the island’s bitterly partisan politics. That was on display in the January 2024 presidential election, when the two main parties’ candidates got less than three quarters of the total vote.
Taiwan elections are generally peaceful affairs, though the police will deploy 15,000 officers and almost 6,000 civilian volunteers, the Central News Agency reported. - Bloomberg
