Name: Why Taiwan's recall election failed to oust opposition lawmakers | ABC NEWS
Uploaded: 2025-07-27T04:25:05.000Z
Duration: 5 min 34 s
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Well, a movement to unseat 24 parliamentarians in Taiwan has failed.

Past perfect

Civil society groups had driven what's called a recall vote, claiming the opposition, which has the majority in the parliament, had been blocking the president's agenda.

Well, joining us now is senior analyst with the Northeast Asia International Crisis Group, William Yang.

William, thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us.

There's been a lot of hope from civic groups ahead of this vote, wanting to unseat these legislators, which they say are too pro-China.

Yes, I think the result basically shows that the majority of Taiwanese people still prefer the outcome from the election that [was] delivered more than a year ago in 2024,

which is that they have chosen and elected these opposition lawmakers to represent them, at least in those districts.

And they prefer the current power balance in Taiwan's politics to remain the same, which is that the opposition party will continue to have a majority in the legislature.

And the ruling party will control the executive branch.

And they believe that this is the right kind of political balance of power, where the opposition party will be able to hold the ruling party accountable, rather than the ruling party also controlling the legislature.

Why take this route, though, and trigger a recall vote?

Why not wait until the next election to be able to mount a campaign to unseat these legislators?

So the recall campaign basically was triggered by a series of controversial legislations that the opposition parties tried to pass over the last year.

And these laws, a lot of it were basically trying to expand the power of the legislature and shrink the power of the executive branch of the government.

And at the same time, the executive government also faced a lot of difficulty to try to push forward some of the key agenda that they try to prioritize,  including enhancing Taiwan's defense spending,

and also passing a series of national security-related bills that would allow Taiwan to strengthen its capability against what the government has called the China's ability to infiltrate Taiwan's political system.

These civic groups are accusing these legislators of being too pro-China or too pro-Beijing and working closely with Beijing to undermine the island's democratic process.

I think some of the concerns are definitely valid from a perspective that the opposition lawmakers have really paralyzed the government's ability to start the process of enhancing the necessary defense reforms,

or defense capabilities that Taiwan desperately needs in order to deter China from continuing to enhance the military pressure on Taiwan.

So from that perspective, they do view that these lawmakers are not doing the right thing for Taiwan's long-term security and prosperity and stability.

And so they want to use this as a way to see if they will be able to replace these lawmakers with other lawmakers that will prioritize Taiwan's security more.

Well, now that the ruling party has failed in their effort to try to flip this balance of power in parliament, do you think the opposition will make it more difficult to pass legislation?

On the one hand, the opposition party could potentially feel that they have the momentum behind them, so they will try to use it as a way to push the government to provide more leverage in concessions.

And that could mean that the government will have to make some political concessions on certain issues that the opposition parties prioritize

in order to get the opposition parties on board to cooperate on enhancing key measures like the enhancement of Taiwan's defense budget.

But at the same time, the opposition could also feel the heat from this nationwide recall campaign in a way that they will be more cautious when it comes to blocking or stopping the government's agenda,

so that they won't face similar recall measures in the future.

William Young from the Northeast Asia International Crisis Group, thank you so much for sharing your insight with us today.