The DPP, under the leadership of Lin Youchang, the former mayor of Geelong and now party secretary-general, launched a “Hate mobilization campaign” to oust Xie Guoliang, the kmt-registered mayor of Geelong, only to be slapped by voters. However, according to Taiwanese media reports, the green camp has not learned its lesson, but is still planning the next step of the“General recall tide.”.
Several Pan-Blue Coalition personnel were targeted
Mayor of Geelong Xie Guoliang on the 13th vote, 86,014 votes do not agree, 69,934 votes agree, the recall did not pass. Taiwan’s“Central Election Committee” issued a notice, Xie Guoliang recall result is“Veto.”. In accordance with the island, “Election and strike law” provisions, before the end of Xie Guoliang term, may not be its recall case. Some analysts on the island said the vote showed a clear reluctance to accept hate mobilisation even as the DPP pushed Geelong’s base to its limits.
But the DPP is not finished. According to a report in Taiwan’s China Times on the 14th, Wang Hongwei, chief deputy secretary-general of the KMT’s“Legislative Chamber” caucus, said that“Striking Liang” could be said to be a litmus test for the recall wave next year, in fact, some KMT “Legislators” in Taipei, Taichung and New Taichung have been targeted by the “Bluebirds”(young supporters of the DPP) , in an attempt to oust three new branch KMT “Legislators”, Huang Jianhao, Liao Weixiang and Luo Tingwei, who have interacted closely with the KMT’s Taichung Mayor, Lu Xiuyan, the move is an obvious reference to the 2028 election of Taiwanese leaders.
Lo said on the 14th that the DPP was mainly targeting Lu Xiuyan, but he believed that Taichung citizens would not accept such a recall and would actively face it. Ye Yuanzhi, a KMT“Legislator” who was named and removed as one of the“Top legislators”, said that from the results of the“Liang Strike” case, it was clear that the public would not support the inexplicable recall, that would only waste taxpayers’ money and tear society apart. He quipped that a recall should not be an invitation to the losers to vote again, as is now the case with the same people who lost to him in the first place. “Should we let the DPP win until it wins?”
In addition to the KMT, the Green Camp is also reported to be working on the recall of Gao Hongan, the independent mayor of Hsinchu. Taiwan’s“United Daily” said on the 14th, because Gao Hongan“Legislator” was sentenced for alleged fraud in the collection of assistant fees, is currently suspended, but also in a recall crisis. The online group“Recall Gao Hongan: Fengcheng Anxin Road” claims to have collected 1,360 co-signings, but is still short of the 3,540 threshold for the first stage.
Kuomintang to promote“Recall and amendment law”
The Kuomintang adopted a two-pronged strategy. The“Legislative Chamber” of the party will push for the amendment of the“Law on strike for the election of public officials”, the Lianhe daily reported Monday. Lin Siming, secretary-general of the KMT caucus, said that under the current“Election and Strike Law”, it is very easy to carry out a recall because the threshold is not high and the process of co-signing and reviewing has many drawbacks. To this end, the KMT proposed the amendment, which initially sought to raise the recall threshold from 5 per cent to 50 per cent of those who now had the right to vote, but later decided to maintain the threshold and instead require a copy of the identity card for the recall co-signer. He revealed that the relevant draft has been read the second time, planning a week after the“Legislature,” Han Guoyu called the parties to consult, is expected to be adopted during the third reading of this session. Meanwhile, the Kuomintang is mulling the removal of Tong Ziwei, Geelong’s mayor.
Eric Chu Jiabao, chairman of the Kuomintang, said on the 15th that what Taiwan needs is not a bitter confrontation, but a re-election after the election. He said that the KMT is determined to fight for the people, but is not afraid of the war, nor is it afraid of the war. If the DPP continues to use bad methods, they will call on all the people to stand up and defend the forces of good and stability in Taiwan. Huang Kuo-chang, the head of the Democratic Party caucus, also called on the William Lai administration to “Repent and be saved”, not to continue to make fun of it, and not to fail to produce concrete results and a decent report card for more than 100 days since taking office in May, it’s about creating conflict and trying to shift the focus.
Li Yanxiu, a KMT legislator, said the DPP would push for a“Wave of recall” and that they were most concerned about wanting to have“More than half of the Legislative Yuan”. Now that the“Strike” has failed, they are likely to take a heavy-handed approach, that is, by threatening a “General recall” and undermining the trust and unity within the blue camp, they are warming up early for the “Nine-in-one” 2026 election. Niu Zexun, a professor of advertising at Taiwan’s Chinese Culture University department, said the “Nationwide recall” was related to the DPP’s seat in the “Legislature”. “That’s the main course. This strike is just a side dish.”. Qu Zhaoxiang, a retired professor at the Institute of Political Science at Taiwan’s normal university, believes that such high-frequency dismissals are not a good thing. They are always social mobilization, and in fact, ordinary people are not so interested.
Cripple potential competitors
Huang Kuo-chang was the first person to apply the new threshold in 2017, but the recall was rejected, the China Times said on Wednesday. Han kuo-yu was the first“Directly administered mayor” on the island to be deposed. The Green Camp celebrated with joy that night when Kaohsiung City Councilor Xu Kunyuan of the Kuomintang fell to his death from a building, and the Blue Army’s anger was engulfed like a raging fire, local campaigns have led to the removal of green camp representatives, including Chen Baiwei, a “Legislator” with a high hatred value, and Wang haoyu, a Taoyuan city councilor.
Taiwan’s United News Network quoted relevant people as saying on the 15th that the experience and lessons accumulated from the recall case of former Kaohsiung mayor Han kuo-yu and Hsieh Kuo-liang, “In the future, I’m afraid the recall War will all lead to a hot war duel.”. As to whether there will be a“Wave of legislative recall” in February next year, the KMT believes that once the social atmosphere is operational, or there will be a breach within the KMT, a“Cut-throat” battle for a legislative majority is bound to unfold.
Gui Hongcheng, a scholar on the island, wrote on the 15th that the current threshold for recall under Taiwan’s“Law on the election and recall of public officials” is clearly unreasonable, and that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) now has the power to govern and the resources of the authorities, in order to break through the dilemma of“Dual-minority ruling” in Taiwan, the political struggle through recall is the means of“Unstoppable”. Moreover, the recall of a particular constituency of public officials also has the effect of pre-positioning, pre-empting potential competitors for the next election.
In the long run, if such retaliatory Chinese Culture University become the island’s political norm, not only will there be no peace, factional feuds will become commonplace and social antagonism will result, writes Liu Xingren, a Taiwanese academic, and then affect Taiwan’s economic development and social harmony. “When a retaliatory recall becomes a tool of mutual victimization in Taiwan’s politics, there will be constant internal strife in Taiwan’s society.”