As votes get counted, numbers indicate that all 24 of the Kuomintang lawmakers up for recall will likely retain their seats in the legislature. Analysts told TaiwanPlus the KMT will likely revise the recall act again to raise the threshold even higher, while the Democratic Progressive Party may need to rethink its communication with the opposition.
00:00So I want to talk a little bit about the impact of today's mass recall vote.
00:05How is this going to impact the KMT moving forward?
00:09Do you think that they will be emboldened by this?
00:12Very much so, because we were just looking at the process of the history of recall.
00:19And we saw that in 2016, that was a decisive year, when the recall was made much easier than before.
00:27So I was just thinking, if the end result really showed that none of the KMT lawmakers have been recalled,
00:39it means they still have the majority.
00:41And if I were them, I would probably be thinking about changing the recall law again,
00:48to make it not as easy as now, maybe raise the threshold or required to make the case or to go to the voting booth.
01:02I think in the past, you had to get 50% of voters to support the recall movement in order for it to pass.
01:09So maybe it will go back up to 50%.
01:11I've also heard the people suggesting other methods to make it more difficult.
01:17Right. It's likely.
01:20And I think if the trend continues, you know, and also there are no lawmakers that were successfully recalled,
01:31the DPP will be weakened.
01:34And I think the supporters will be so disheartened.
01:38And going forward, the DPP politicians will have to possibly find a way to negotiate
01:48and to communicate better with the opposition rather than, you know, the division and antagonism.
01:57So I think going forward, it's going to be a lot of challenges for the DPP going forward.
02:04Now I'm getting some more information here.
02:06We have a number of KMT lawmakers who have announced that they are keeping their office.
02:14They're keeping their seats.
02:15We have Wang Hongwei from Taipei City.
02:18Lai Shibao also from Taipei City.
02:20Huang Jianhao from Taijong.
02:22Liao Weixiang from Taijong.
02:24Lua Tingwei from Taijong.
02:27No, that should be from Taijong.
02:29Is that right?
02:31And also we have one more here.
02:35Huang Jianbing from Taijong.
02:39Now, two political parties have also announced that they're going to be holding press conferences.
02:44The DPP is going to hold a press conference at 6.30 p.m. tonight.
02:48And also the TPP is going to hold a press conference hosted by the party chairman, Huang Guocheng, at 7 p.m. tonight.
03:01So we're expecting messages from all of these different people here.
03:05And it looks like we're also getting images from the DPP rally, or sorry, the Pan Green rally, which was supporting these recall movements.
03:15And it looks like a lot of people have cleared out.
03:19At this point, we can see those images now on our screen.
03:23Now, some are saying that these recall movements or the push to recall people is a sign that Taiwan is more polarized than ever.
03:35Others are saying that Taiwan was more divided in the past.
03:39What would you say?
03:40Are we seeing more division in Taiwan society than we saw before?
03:46My personal feeling on Facebook, I really feel that there is more division.
03:53But I think maybe a better way to put it is that our political environment is getting more and more fragmented.
04:02And it is not a unique situation for Taiwan.
04:07I think it's really all over the world.
04:09People are increasingly trusting their circles.
04:15We have Tong Wencheng, right?
04:17We have the silos, right?
04:18We have those echo chambers.
04:21And because of algorithm, we're only seeing posts that we agree with.
04:27So I think people's opinions would tend to be reinforced by what they read and what they retweet and share.
04:36And they would have this, you know, conception or sometimes misconception that their opinions are representative of the wider public.
04:45But because of this fragmentation, I think it's getting more and more difficult to really gauge the general temperature of the public.
04:57We only have a couple of minutes left.
04:59I definitely want to talk about where this recall movement leaves the DPP.
05:04Where do these civic groups and where does the party go from here?
05:08What's the impact?
05:09Well, I mean, obviously, this is a big rebuke for them.
05:13And I think the big takeaway here is that the recall laws will no longer be used in this way.
05:20Because this is not what the recall laws were originally written for.
05:25They were written to provide citizens with a way to remove a particularly bad politician.
05:33And this was the first time it's been used on a mass scale against a party.
05:37And I think that the DPP, I mean, this is led by the recall campaigners.
05:42They are now utterly defeated.
05:43I think the DPP is going to take this as a big rebuke.
05:49And I think that they're going to have to do some serious soul searching on this.
05:57Your thoughts, Guangying?
05:59I totally agree with Donovan.
06:01And soul searching is really a good, a really appropriate phrase here.
06:07I think, you know, I asked the same question to Nathan Bottle in Academic Sinica in my podcast, Taiwanology.
06:18So I asked him, is the mass recall really the best way for the party to come back at the other?
06:26And he said that it might not be the best way, but it is one of the ways that's allowed by the system.
06:34But like Donovan said, maybe the parties, they will think, really think hard, think twice before they are going to launch a massive campaign like this going forward.
06:47All right.
06:48Well, thank you to both of my guests, Guangying and Donovan.
06:51And thank you for watching Taiwan Recall Vote 2025.
06:56Be sure to stay tuned to Taiwan Plus for all the latest updates on the mass recall movement.
07:01You can also follow us on social media, download the app, the Taiwan Plus app, and also visit taiwanplus.com.
