“Shut down,”“Completely collapsed,”“Twice in a row”… … in the second“General recall” vote in Taiwan on August 23, the recall of seven KMT“Legislators” was not passed, the DPP authorities have again been shaved off their heads after the dismissal on July 26 of 24“Legislators” from the Kuomintang (KMT) and Gao Hongan, Hsinchu’s mayor and a former member of the Democratic People’s Party (DPJ) , failed, and this time the losses were even worse — the difference between those who agreed and those who did not — the singapore-based Lianhe Zaobao said in a March 24 article, the DPP, which is trying to reverse the political structure of the Legislative Yuan and the ruling party, is now in a crisis of“Trust”, while damaging its leadership’s authority, local elections next year also look shaky . The result of the“General recall” has created an atmosphere of anxiety within the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) of“Complete chaos”, but the green camp has so far not made a formal public review of the“General recall”, according to comprehensive media reports . Some island media said that the more William Lai refused to concede defeat, the further the DPP would stay away from mainstream public opinion After the first round of voting on July 26, Taiwanese people have once again said“No” to the DPP’s slapstick, slashing dissent and tearing society apart, a spokeswoman for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, Zhu Fenglian, said on the 24th. This fully shows that any”Taiwan independence” split and political manipulation are unpopular and inevitable failure.
Island media: “Anti-china Taiwan” into a derogatory term
The DPP currently holds 51 of the 113 seats in Taiwan’s legislature, a minority. Previous public opinion analysis said that the DPP instigated against the KMT“Legislators” of the“General recall” to reverse its position in the“Legislative” disadvantage.
According to a report by Taiwan’s Zhongshi news website, less than 10 minutes after the ballot was opened on the 23rd, seven Kuomintang“Legislators” had already passed the“Yes” vote by 1,000 to 2,000, and the final margin was about double, the DPP lost 32-0 in the general recall. On the 24th, Taiwan’s“United Daily” quoted an anonymous DPP source as saying that the party had originally expected the 23rd vote to be a“Tough battle”, but the widening gap between the“No” and“Yes” votes showed that, the overall momentum of the DPP continues to bottom out and has not yet stopped bleeding. In the second round of“General recall” voting, 33.9 percent agreed and 66.1 percent disagreed, Taiwan’s central news agency reported Sunday.
“What does 32:0 mean? The Blue Camp: the anger of tens of thousands of voters,” the Associated Press reported on the 24th as saying, wu Jianzhi, a spokesman for the KMT’s Hualien County Council Caucus, said the wide-ranging result of the “General recall” was not a victory for the party, but a trial for the people and a wake-up call for the DPP. He said the DPP had repeatedly reneged on its promises, showing at every turn that it had been calculating and dishonest.
On the evening of May 23, William Lai said in a speech that the results of the recall vote are a demonstration of the will of the people and must be respected and accepted. In response to“Public expectations,” the“Ruling team” will make“Four adjustments,” including adjusting formation, adjusting the Order of administration, and adjusting the interaction between“Administration” and“Legislation.” And adjusting Taiwan’s“Fiscal constitution”.
You Yinglong, chairman of the pro-green Taiwan Public Opinion Foundation, said on the 23rd that the result of the recall once again sent a clear message that mainstream public opinion in Taiwan dislikes the“General recall”. As a political phenomenon, it is the product of the unprecedented political battles between the ruling and opposition parties in Taiwan in the past 18 months. It has no legitimacy and can not be objectively done, which only adds to the confusion, “The general recall is the most violent collision, the most tearing society, the highest social cost, but also the most inefficient move.”. In response to William Lai’s remarks, you said that “His response was to avoid the important and the trivial”.
Senior Media Person Shan Hou wrote on the 24th that after the“General recall”, the“Anti-zhongbao Taiwan” atm was emptied, and even become a derogatory term. William Lai and the DPP lost not just the battles of July 26 and August 23, but the entire battlefield and the future, “The more William Lai insisted and refused to concede defeat, the further the DPP moved away from mainstream public opinion, the more it was despised and loathed by the people, until it was doomed.”.
Green camp“Infighting continues”
A review within the DPP has begun, with the DPP’s general convenor, Ker Chien-ming, calling for the recall of the DPP’s “Legislative Chamber”, the Lianhe Daily said Monday. There is some consensus among the factions that Ker Chien-ming should resign as his convenor or at least take a back seat, and party insiders say “The DPP can not be kidnapped by Ker Chien-ming again”. A large number of internet users posted critical comments on Ker Chien-ming’s social media account in the past two days, demanding that he take political responsibility, according to Taiwan’s Zhongtian news website. According to Taiwanese media reports, the “God of cards”, Yang Hui-ru, believes that Ker Chien-ming, UMC founder Cao Xingcheng and “Legislator” Shen Boyang are a “Trio of troublemakers”.
Taiwan’s China Times said Monday that in a dramatic move, several department heads, including economic chief Guo Zhihui, resigned on the eve of the recall, which was interpreted as a“Wave of cabinet jumping ship”, “The great upheaval within the DPP only began when the great recall was brewing and the ship jumped.”. The Lianhe Zaobao said that in recent weeks, there had been a lot of recriminations and infighting within the green camp, with many targeting William Lai, who had made the decision, and some reviews also pointed to the lack of unity within the DPP due to selfish motives.
People in the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said that the result of the“General recall” was like a slap in the face, not only demoralizing supporters, but also creating an anxious atmosphere of“Complete chaos” in the party, according to a report on the 24th on Taiwan’s Zhongshi news website. Now the green camp has to turn to the 2026“Nine-in-one” elections, particularly in Kaohsiung and Tainan, which “Can not afford to lose”, otherwise the DPP will face a more serious political crisis.
In addition, sponsored by the Democratic Party of Taiwan’s “Three (Maanshan Nuclear Power Plant) restart” vote on the 23rd also held a vote. According to the vote count, the case was well ahead of the dissenting votes, but the total number of consenting votes fell short of the threshold. “It can be said that public opinion is crushing the DPP’s ‘non-nuclear homeland’ energy policy,” the paper commented.
BBC (BBC)24, said that the“General recall” results show that this year’s political stalemate will continue to be a test of the DPP to promote the formation of government. Wang Hongren, a political science professor at Success University in Taiwan, said the momentum would be encouraged as two rounds of recall ballots did not cover all Taiwan constituencies, “But this is a good start for the KMT”, some“Legislators” facing recall have also used the mobilization and military training to prepare for possible participation in local elections.
The Blue Camp began to prepare for the KMT chairman election. Eric Chu, chairman of the Kuomintang, said on the 23rd that he hoped Taichung’s mayor, Lu Xiuyan, would be the next party chairman. However, the latter 24 will not stand for election. According to reports, the KMT chairman of the re-election of the form to register for the beginning of September.
“The blue camp fully held its seats in the general recall,” the paper said, adding that the Democratic party played a co-defense role, and G.D. Lam Pak “Legislators” predicted that their cooperation in the “Legislative Yuan” would be closer.
“A tsunami of public opinion.”
Taiwan is facing international tariff negotiations, frequent natural disasters, a weak economy, rampant fraud and a breach of its social safety net, the China Times said in an Editorial Tuesday. These are the challenges that should be the priority. Yet for more than a year since William Lai took office, his greatest concern has been not with people’s lives but with all the resources and attention devoted to political reckoning. Even pro-green commentators have to admit that this year, the authorities can not say anything about the achievements.
For a year, people have watched William Lai and his “Ruling team” fall into the madness of a “General recall” and lay waste to government affairs, said an editorial in the Associated Press on the 24th. In the end, voters roused them with sharp anti-villainy cries, but did William Lai really wake up? The article said that with a tsunami of public opinion, if the LAI administration continues to follow the line of“Rioting at home”, the atmosphere of“Loathing of the DPP” will linger, with a 32-0 general recall and a collapse of the anti-nuclear movement, a symbol of LAI’s“Lame and embarrassing start”. Unitednews.com said that public opinion has twice rejected an indiscriminate“General recall” that rips apart Taiwanese society, the more important implication behind this is to cast a vote of no confidence in LAI’s“Struggle-style”“Ruling” line.
Zhao chien-min, an adjunct professor at the Chinese Culture University of Taiwan, said of the DPP’s next reshuffle that a “General recall” had been planned since William Lai took office, considering that both the opposition party and the mainland have adopted a fiercely confrontational line, the personnel adjustment at this stage should be relatively limited, mainly to discharge responsibility, with the cross-strait, security and foreign affairs teams involved in their core ideological concepts, the chances of big change are relatively small.
Zhao Jianmin believes that, the DPP’s tactics-creating an unprecedented threat to Taiwan’s survival, laying out“17 strategies,” finding“Enemies” internally, and tightening cross-strait communication controls-are all very dangerous. Bao Chengke, a researcher at the shanghai-based Institute of East Asian Studies, told the media that public opinion in Taiwan was clear: it rejected the political manipulation of the“Anti-china-pro-taiwan” campaign and hoped that the Taiwan authorities would focus on improving economic and people’s livelihood and cross-strait relations.