Impeachment vote targeting President Lai fails

Taipei, May 19 (CNA) An impeachment motion initiated by opposition parties and directed at President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) failed to meet the statutory threshold in the Legislature on Tuesday.

Lawmakers voted 56-50 in favor of impeachment, but the 56 votes were far short of the 76 needed for the motion to succeed.

The main opposition Kuomintang (KMT) and the smaller Taiwan People's Party (TPP) sponsored the impeachment motion in December 2025 after Lai did not promulgate a bill passed by lawmakers that would have increased the share of tax revenue given to local governments.

Tuesday's outcome was a foregone conclusion, as the motion needed to gain the backing of at least two-thirds of all lawmakers before being able to proceed to another vote by the Constitutional Court's grand justices.

The KMT, TPP, and two independents ideologically aligned with the KMT combine for only 62, or about 55 percent, of the 113 legislative seats.