All 24 KMT lawmakers, Hsinchu mayor survive recall votes

Taipei, July 26 (CNA) All 24 lawmakers of the main opposition Kuomintang (KMT) up for recall Saturday survived their recall votes, ensuring that the KMT along with Taiwan People's Party (TPP) lawmakers will maintain opposition control of the Legislature.

Recall votes against all of the 24 KMT lawmakers as well as Hsinchu Mayor Kao Hung-an (高虹安) failed to pass, according to Central Election Commission (CEC) figures.

In only six of the 25 recall votes did the ballots cast in favor of the recall even meet the threshold of 25 percent of eligible voters needed for the recall to pass, according to CEC numbers as of 7 p.m.

But in all six cases, the number of votes opposing the recall exceeded those cast in favor, leading those recall campaigns to fail.

In the other 19 recall races, the number of votes against the recall exceeded those in favor, and the threshold of pro-recall votes was not met as of 7 p.m.

It was a major defeat for the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and civic groups pushing the recall votes, which had hoped to remove lawmakers whom they argued were pro-China and were obstructing the government's policies.