Taiwan move to recall opposition lawmakers fails
TAIPEI: Taiwan opposition lawmakers survived a major recall election on Saturday (July 26), thwarting a bid to oust one-fifth of the island's parliamentarians - a move supporters had hoped would send a message to China but that opponents called an assault on democracy.
All recall votes against 24 lawmakers from the largest opposition party, the Kuomintang, were rejected, according to live vote counts by Taiwanese media. The voting followed a campaign begun by civic groups.
The election result is a blow to President Lai Ching-te's Democratic Progressive Party, which has missed an opportunity to reshape the Taiwan legislature and regain its majority.
The government said the island's largest-ever recall vote had faced "unprecedented" election interference by China, which claims the democratically governed island as its own - a claim Taiwan rejects.
While Lai won last year's presidential election, the DPP lost its legislative majority. The opposition has flexed its muscles since then to pass laws the government has opposed and impose budget cuts, complicating efforts to boost defence spending in particular.
KMT Chairman Eric Chu thanked Taiwan's voters and called for Lai to apologise and reflect on his own governance.
"One should not lose the elections and then call for malicious recalls. One should not seek one-party dominance and destroy democracy," he told a press briefing in Taipei. "Most importantly, the people of Taiwan chose stability and chose a government that gets things done, rather than political infighting."
The political drama comes as China ramps up a military and diplomatic pressure campaign against Taiwan to assert its territorial claims. Lai has offered talks with Beijing many times but been rebuffed. It calls him a "separatist".
The heated recall campaign has been closely watched by China, whose Taiwan Affairs Office and state media have repeatedly commented on the vote and used some of the same talking points as the KMT to lambaste Lai, Reuters reported last week.
The Taiwan Affairs Office said in a statement on Sunday that the voting results show that "the DPP's political manipulation is completely contrary to the people's will and is unpopular".
Wu Szu-yao, secretary general of the DPP's legislative caucus, said the party respected the voters' decision with pleasure, adding that the result would only strengthen the DPP's "anti-communist and pro-Taiwan" stance.
The groups seeking the recalls said theirs was an "anti-communist" movement, accusing the KMT of selling out Taiwan by sending lawmakers to China, not supporting defence spending and bringing chaos to parliament. The KMT rejects the accusations, denouncing Lai's "dictatorship" and "green terror" - referring to the DPP's party colour.
The KMT campaigned against what it called a "malicious" recall that failed to respect the result of last year's parliamentary election, saying they have simply been keeping lines of communication open with Beijing and exercising legitimate oversight of Lai's government.
Recall votes for seven other KMT lawmakers will be held on August 23. - Reuters
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