KMT, DPP make last push before 2nd round of Taiwan recall votes

Taipei, Aug. 22 (CNA) Less than 24 hours before recall votes against seven Kuomintang (KMT) legislators begin, the opposition party rallied in New Taipei Friday urging "no" votes, while recall groups and the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) mounted last efforts to call for support to remove them.

"Vote 'no' on the recall on Aug. 23," KMT supporters chanted at a rally Friday evening in New Taipei's Xindian District, the constituency of eight-term KMT lawmaker Lo Ming-tsai (羅明才), whose fate will be decided in the Saturday recall vote.

Among those who took the stage to support Lo was Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) of the KMT, who said he still did not understand "why the recall is being held."

Since President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) took office in May last year, three recall drives have already been launched, Han said, criticizing Lai, who also chairs the DPP.

The three recall campaigns referred by Han are the unsuccessful attempt against Keelung Mayor Hsieh Kuo-liang (謝國樑) last October, the July 26 votes targeting 24 KMT legislators and Hsinchu Mayor Kao Hung-an (高虹安) that also failed, and the upcoming recalls against seven KMT lawmakers.

The July 26 and Aug. 23 recall votes are part of an unprecedented recall campaign launched by informal civic groups and supported by the DPP, which has sought to unseat most of the KMT lawmakers.

Apart from Lo, the other six directly elected KMT lawmakers facing the Saturday recall votes include Deputy Legislative Speaker Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) of Taichung, Ma Wen-chun (馬文君) and Yu Hao (游顥) of Nantou County, Lin Szu-ming (林思銘) of Hsinchu County, and Yen Kuan-heng (顏寬恒) and Yang Chiung-ying (楊瓊瓔), both representing Taichung.

Han said that if the Legislative Yuan were made up solely of DPP members, decades of democratic progress in Taiwan would go to waste.

In such a scenario, "all of our most fundamental democratic principles of oversight and checks and balances in the Legislative Yuan of the Republic of China (Taiwan's official name) would be completely destroyed," he added.

Echoing Han, Taiwan People's Party (TPP) Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) said that after all 24 KMT legislators survived the July 26 recall, the DPP "failed to reflect" and instead pushed ahead with the second round of recalls targeting those seven opposition lawmakers set for Saturday.

He said a rejection at the ballot box on Saturday would send a message to Lai that "the people of Taiwan have had enough of the DPP's authoritarianism."

As a prominent campaigner for a pro-nuclear national referendum set to take place on the same day as the recalls, Huang also urged voters to back the "decisive ballot" for Taiwan's energy transition.

"Please support extending the operation of the Third Nuclear Power Plant," Huang said. "Let's make Taiwan more beautiful, make our electricity bills lighter, and give stronger momentum to the future development of our AI industries."

The plebiscite was proposed by the TPP and backed by the KMT in an attempt to restart the Maanshan Nuclear Power Plant in Pingtung County, which was decommissioned in mid-May, leaving Taiwan with no more operating nuclear power facilities.

The DPP, meanwhile, has urged its supporters to vote against the proposal.

A rally in support of the recall was held the same evening in Taichung, where DPP lawmaker Puma Shen (沈伯洋) said that "the DNA of recalls has always been in the hearts of the Taiwanese people."

"We have always worked to remind everyone that winning an election is not the end," he said. "Those elected must continue to be held accountable by the people -- this is an important right of the Taiwanese people."

He said the goal of the KMT is to undermine a year of hard work by the civic movement, a move he described as "against the people, against Taiwan, and against Taiwan's democratic system."

Shen also noted that before the July 26 votes, six recall attempts had been launched against KMT lawmakers.

"While none succeeded at the time, none of those six were ever elected again," he said, adding that they all faded from politics as constituents came to see them as unfit to serve.

"That is why no civic movement is ever in vain," Shen added.

Tung Hsiang-lan (童香蘭), the primary person who proposed the recall against Yen, said she and other campaigners spearheaded the movement "not for personal fame or gain, nor for the interests of any political party."

"We are taking part in this recall because of our deep love for this land," Tung added.