KMT urges 'no' vote in recall election to send President Lai a message

New Taipei, July 19 (CNA) The main opposition party, the Kuomintang (KMT), called on its supporters Saturday to vote "no" in next week's recall election against 24 of its legislators, saying it would also send a "no" message to President Lai Ching-te (賴清德).

"Never in Taiwan's history has any leader in power initiated a mass recall campaign against the opposition -- not Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), not Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), and not the KMT," the party's chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said at a KMT rally in New Taipei's Banqiao District.

"You wouldn't find a single democratic country in the world where a mass recall campaign is launched against the opposition. Only one person dares to do that, and that person is Lai Ching-te," he said in criticism of Lai, who also chairs the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

‧Recall activists rally in Taipei, call for ouster of 'pro-China' KMT lawmakers

"On July 26, we must stand up and say 'no' to Lai Ching-te to safeguard Taiwan's democracy," Chu said.

He urged party supporters to cast a "no" vote in next Saturday's recall election, which targets 24 KMT legislators nationwide, including five in New Taipei, the country's most populous city.

Backed by the DPP, the mass recall campaign was initiated by civic groups that are opposed to a series of legislative measures adopted by the KMT and the smaller opposition Taiwan People's Party (TPP).

The groups have argued that the measures will undermine Taiwan's constitutional order and weaken its efforts to bolster its defense capabilities against growing Chinese military threats.

In Taiwan's 113-seat Legislature, the KMT holds 52 seats and the TPP holds 8, which gives the two parties a combined majority against the DPP's 51 seats.

After next Saturday's recall election that will decide the fate of the 24 directly elected KMT legislators, a second round of recall votes targeting seven other KMT lawmakers will be held on Aug. 23.

At Saturday's rally, Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) of the KMT said the recall election was "a totally undemocratic political movement signaling dictatorship."

"The ruling party is using state resources to recall 31 opposition lawmakers -- to recall all of them, to slaughter them all," Han told the crowd that was estimated by the organizers to be over 20,000.

"We must never allow our democracy to backslide," Han said. "We must never let the DPP lead us into one-party authoritarian rule and dictatorship."

At another KMT rally on Saturday, TPP Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) took the stage in Taichung later in the evening and urged voters to cast a "no" vote at the polls.

"We will make sure the DPP and Lai Ching-te understand that their actions are against the will of the people," Huang said.

The actions of Lai and his party have prompted the public to stand up and "teach the DPP a lesson," Huang said.

"What a national leader should do is bring hope and unity to the people -- not spread hatred and create divisions among them," he added.