Taiwanese voters reject an attempt to remove legislators from a porcelain party

Taiwanese voters rejected an offer Ousteren About one fifth of their legislators, all from the Nationalist Party of the opposition, in a recall on Saturday, hopes for the ruling party to convert the power relationships in the legislative power of the self -oriented island.

The independence-leaning ruleing democratic progressive party won last year’s presidential electionsBut the China-friendly nationalists, also known as the KMT, and the smaller Taiwan People’s Party have enough seats to form a majority block.

While counting votes was still underway, provisional results showed that the recall actions were unable to remove one of the two dozen KMT legislators, with the most reported by considerable margins. The scale of the recall elections is unprecedented, with another seven kmt of legislators who have comparable voices on 23 August.

If the results of the vote of the August are also unfavorable for the DPP, the outcome indicates that the government of the Taiwan president Lai ching-te could continue to undergo strong resistance from the legislative power before the next elections, which is expected to take place in 2028.

“A tough fight”

Despite their enormous effort, those who support the recall, were confronted with a “heavy struggle” in trying to drop the legislators in well -organized, strong KMT districts, said Lev Nachman, a professor of political sciences at National Taiwan University and expert in the field of Taiwan’s elections.

The result will make it even more difficult for LAI to raise his agenda, especially for the local elections next year, Nachman said.

“At the moment there is very little that Lai can do, unlike other creative ways to talk to the audience,” he told the Associated Press.

Fu Kun-Chi, one of the most powerful and most controversial legislators who were the target, said that the result left Lai with no other option than to meet the opposition and “find a way for Taiwan to go into this chaotic world in a more stable way.”

Both parties say they are for democracy

Those who support the removal of the 24 legislators were angry that the KMT and his allies blocked the most important legislation, especially the Defense budgetAnd Controversial changes passed on They are seen as reducing the power of the executive power and the preference of China, that the island regards its own territory.

The actions of the opposition parties have led to concern among some Taiwanese about the democratic integrity of the island and the ability to deter Chinese military threats, which led to the recall campaigns.

But the KMT claimed that the ruling party was resort to political retribution after it had lost the legislative majority, and said that the recall actions undermined and challenged the democratic system of Taiwan.

The KMT has 52 seats, while the prevailing DPP contains 51 seats. In order to secure the DPP a legislative majority, at least six kmt legislators should be deposed, and the ruling party should win the interim elections, which must be held within three months of the announcement of the results.

In order for the recall passing, more than a quarter of the eligible voters in the election district must vote for this, and the total number of supporters must exceed the votes.

The poll closed at 4 p.m. local time. The Central Election Committee of Taiwan will announce the official results on 1 August.

Tensions flared over the poll

The elections have intensified tensions between those who support the status quo and those who prefer improved ties with Beijing. Critics accuse China-friendly politicians of the compromise of Taiwan and meet their meetings with Chinese politicians on the mainland. But these Taiwanese politicians claim that their connections are vital to the dialogue, given the refusal of Beijing to communicate with the DPP.

When he was asked about the recall, said spokesperson Zhu Fenglian, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, in June that since the administration of Lai came to power, it tried to achieve “units of dominance” and to exercise dictatorship under the guise of democracy, reported the CCTV of the state. The office is a branch of the Government of the Chinese ruling communist party, which itself maintains a strict rule of one party.

Zhu said that Lai’s government spared no trouble to suppress opposition parties and those who supported the development of cross-trait relationships.

Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council said on Wednesday that the Chinese authorities and the state media had tried to shamelessly disturb the mood.