In this episode, we kick off the first part in a series of podcasts on Taiwan's Great Recall (大罷免) in which we aim to bring you perspectives from all sides of the debate at this important crossroads in Taiwan's democratic journey.
As we explained in our previous episode on President Lai's first year in office, while his party, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) won the presidential vote in January of 2024, they failed to maintain a majority in the Legislative Yuan or parliament. As a result, the parliament has been controlled by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and their smaller ally, the Taiwan People's Party (TPP) who according to opponents have sought to block the DPP's agenda, freeze budgets, undermine Taiwan's constitutional order and weaken efforts to bolster defense capabilities against growing Chinese military threats.
According to a report by Citizen Congress Watch (CCW), a Taiwanese NGO engaged in parliamentary monitoring, in the first session of the current parliament, only a fraction of legislative proposals successfully passed the readings, reflecting low legislative efficiency as a result of the divisive partisan infighting that has taken precedence over advancing policies for public benefit.
The KMT insist that they are seeking to strengthen and protect Taiwan's democracy and say these recalls are politically motivated. They accuse the ruling DPP of using recalls to eliminate the opposition. However, not all of the electorate would appear to agree and a mass recall effort led by civic groups has been underway for months.
On June 20th, Taiwan's Election Commission announced a recall vote for 24 KMT lawmakers - that's around one quarter of the parliament's members - all from the main opposition party. The date for the recall has been set for July 26th.
In this first episode in our series on Taiwan's Great Recall, we talk to Professor Chen Fang-Yu 陳方隅 (X:@FangYu_80168) from the Department of Political Science at Soochow University (東吳大學) in Taipei to understand:
- The history of recall elections in Taiwan and the recall process,
- What factors have led to this latest and unprecedented mass recall effort,
- How Beijing's military pressure on Taiwan and relationship with individual lawmakers are influencing attitudes on the recall
- Plus much more!
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| Republic of China flag (left) and Taiwan pro-Independence flag (right) appear side by side at a recall rally in Taipei on April 19th, 2025. Photo credit - double_lucky_ (Instagram) |
DIVE DEEPER:
Additional information on the topics covered in this episode:
- Professor Chen Fang-Yu - homepage
- Explainer: Mass slate of recall votes leaves KMT staring down disaster - Teng Pei-ju and Sunny Lai, Focus Taiwan (June 21st, 2025)
- Taiwan to hold recall election for lawmakers that could reshape parliament - Reuters (June 20th, 2025)
- Political Parties in Taiwan recall dozens of MPs just one year after elections - Ilham Issak, ABC News (May 9th, 2025)
- German Institute in Taipei condemns KMT Chairman's comments comparing President to Adolf Hitler - Hanna Bilinski, Radio Taiwan International (May 8th, 2025)
- Here is Taiwan's latest viral picture - Julien Oeuillet, Indo-Pacific Open News (May, 2025)
- Cut Too Deep ? Widespread Recall Efforts Against Taiwanese Legislators - Olimpia Kot, Sarah Jiang, European Values Center for Security Policy (March 11th, 2025)
- Taiwan's Budget Cuts: A Partisan Battleground - Olimpia Kot, European Values Center for Security Policy (January 28th, 2025)
- Citizen Congress Watch report (December 2024)
