In less than 24 hours, Taiwan’s voters will head to the polls to decide the fate of two dozen opposition lawmakers. Both the pro- and anti-recall camps are making their final push for support.
00:00In less than 24 hours, Taiwan's voters will head to the polls to decide the fates of two dozen lawmakers from the main opposition Kuomintang, or KMT.
00:08A months-long recall campaign is now reaching a pivotal moment, and both sides are making their final push for support.
00:24Taiwan Plus has sent two reporters to these final rallies.
00:28We start first with Leslie Liao, who is in Taipei at the KMTs.
00:32Leslie, what's it looking like out there?
00:37Eric, behind me is the main stage where the KMT is going to hold its rally.
00:42We're about half an hour away from the main event, but as you can hear, probably, the programming has already begun.
00:51Organizers have been dealing with inclement weather since we got here.
00:54Over the past couple of hours, the rain has been on and off, even now, right in front of me.
00:59I don't know if you can see, but there are raindrops falling right in front of my lens.
01:04There are two storm systems close by to Taiwan, and they're forecast to bring heavy rain to the country over the next one or two days.
01:11That's going to be consequential for the recall votes, because bad weather might deter people from going to the ballot box, and that's going to drive voter recall down.
01:20Regardless, this is the KMT's final push, and the party has organized a hefty roster of party officials to speak tonight.
01:28That includes party chair Eric Chu, legislative speaker Han Goyi, former president Ma Ying-jeou, and some of the legislators facing recall tomorrow.
01:36The smaller opposition, Taiwan People's Party, has thrown its support behind the KMT throughout these recall campaigns,
01:43and its chair, Hwang Kuo-chang, is scheduled to speak at tonight's rally as well.
01:48We're going to be here all throughout the event, so we'll bring the latest as it comes.
01:52Eric, back to you.
01:55Thanks for that, Leslie.
01:56And now we turn to Tiffany Wong, who joins us from just a few blocks away, where pro-recall campaigners are holding their final rally.
02:04Tiffany, what is going on over with you?
02:06Hi, Eric.
02:10Well, things are just getting started over here.
02:12We are a few feet away from Taiwan's legislature, which is exactly what's at stake in Saturday's recall election.
02:20Here tonight, people are gathering in support of these recalls, and we're expecting to hear from some prominent recall campaigners,
02:26including Robert Cao, who's a Taiwanese businessman, founder of the chipmaker UMC, and he is leading the recall campaign against a Taipei district legislator, Xu Chaoxin.
02:39We're also going to hear from a DPP lawmaker, Wu Siao, and we're expecting to hear a lot of music, performances, and speeches tonight,
02:48as they try to hype up the crowds ahead of tomorrow's vote.
02:51Now, over the past few weeks, there have been several rallies, and it's clear from these campaigns that there are a lot of people in Taiwan who want to see changes in the political landscape,
03:01and they're hoping that tomorrow's vote can bring those changes.
03:07Thank you, Tiffany.
03:08Both Tiffany and Leslie will be part of our live coverage of the recall votes on Saturday evening.
