Taiwan ponders why the mass recall of pro-China lawmakers failed

All 24 KMT lawmakers survived the public recall voting

Originally published on Global Voices

Taiwan’s move to oust pro-Beijing Kuomintang (KMT) lawmakers failed in the first round as all 24 targets survived the recall motions in public voting on July 26, 2025. Another round of recall elections involving seven KMT lawmakers will take place on August 23, 2025.

The results are disappointing for the thousands of campaign volunteers who spent months collecting signatures to push the recall motions forward in over 30 districts. The campaign was initially launched due to a political standoff between the administration led by William Lai Ching-Te of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Legislative Yuan (Taiwan's top legislative body), which is dominated by a pro-Beijing coalition of KMT and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) members. Since Lai’s presidential inauguration in May 2024, the oppositional lawmakers have passed a bill to expand the power of the legislature and cut significant government expenses, including the military defense budget. Such acts were perceived as a betrayal of Taiwan's national interest amid China’s escalating military threats and Chinese President Xi Jinping's goal of “restoring One China” by annexing Taiwan.

Taiwan has been a de facto independent state since 1949, after the KMT of the Republic of China (ROC) was defeated by the Communist Party of China (CPC or CCP) in the Chinese Civil War and established the exiled government on the outlying island. China claims sovereignty over Taiwan under the One China Principle, which the KMT accepts in the 1992 Consensus.

Although the result of the recall campaign cannot be generalized as the ruling DPP losing its popular support, as the polls only took place across 24 pan-blue constituencies where the KMT has strong grassroots support, the relatively weak turnout of opposition voters, however, marks the failure of the campaign in mobilizing DPP supporters and swing voters.

The result came as a surprise to many onlookers, as the organizers had seemingly mobilized large amounts of support throughout Taiwan. Many have attempted to explain the shocking result on social media in the past few days.

Strategic failure

Social media influencer Lai Cheng-Wai, who successfully predicted the result of the recall campaign, pointed out that the recall mechanism is a bottom-up process for residents of a constituency to revoke their representatives when the lawmakers betray local interests. Although citizens initiate the mass recall campaign, its political agenda is unappealing to conservatives and apolitical people, who are more concerned about the economy and their livelihood. 

Clarence Wu, a political news commentator, also highlighted the recall campaign’s strategic failure. Since it only takes six seats for the DPP to become a majority party in the parliament, instead of a mass recall targeting more than 30 KMT lawmakers, Wu argued that the campaign should have spent the resources to bring down the least popular lawmakers. Moreover, while the citizen-initiated campaign had successfully collected enough signatures to pass the recall motions, when entering the final voting stage, it took an election-campaign machine to mobilize voters, and the DDP failed to take up such a role. 

Even within the DPP, many criticized the ruling party’s leadership. Lin Cho-shui, a longtime DPP member, slammed the party in a Facebook post addressing the campaign volunteers:

民進黨因為傲慢、背離民主初衷、私心，以致於不只連側翼都沒有當好，而且不斷因爲令社會側目的言行而削弱了你們創造出來的動能。

The DPP has become arrogant, strayed from the original spirit of democracy, and acted out of self-interest, to the point where it has not only failed to perform a supporting role, but has also continuously weakened the campaign momentum you created through its actions and statements that have drawn public scrutiny.

DPP’s Secretary General Lin Yu-chang submitted his resignation in response to the criticism. However, most critics pointed their fingers at Ker Chien-ming, DPP's chief commissioner in the Legislative Yuan, who had actively coordinated with the citizen campaign in mobilizing his party's supporters. During the recall campaign, his antagonizing statements, such as labelling those who refuse to vote for the recall as “non-Taiwanese,” triggered backlash, divided supporters, and cast doubt among swing voters. 

Claire Wang, chairwoman of the New Power Party, urged Ker’s resignation and a shift in the ruling party's political strategy to resolve the conflict between the Legislature and William Lai’s administration. 

Antagonistic political rhetoric

In addition to political tactics, many also criticized the extreme political rhetoric spread online amid the recall campaign.

At the initial stage of the campaign, its objective was primarily to restore order in the Legislative Yuan and protect the democratic institution. However, by the end, the messaging had become more inflammatory, with slogans such as “resisting China to protect Taiwan” (抗中保台).

The anti-China slogan was used as a weapon for fear and hatred rather than hope, as pointed out by Clarence Wu, resulting in a widely spread antagonistic sentiment that divided Taiwanese society, as described in a viral post written by a video game developer on Facebook: 

大家回想一下過去一年，氣氛是多麼恐怖，那些極端支持者整天貼人標籤──「不反共就是舔共、你不分藍綠就是賣台」「不關心政治就是不愛台灣」[⋯⋯]「講交通、講民生，那肯定是中共同路人」「去中國旅遊？100%大外宣」

這些人跟小粉紅有什麼差別？整天寫嘲諷文，嘴同樣生活在這塊土地上的人，努力把淺綠、中間選民推走.

Let us reflect on how intimidating the atmosphere was in the past year, with those extreme supporters constantly shaming others. ‘If you don't oppose the Chinese Communist Party, you're a CCP flatterer. If you don't see the line between the Blue and Green camps, you're a traitor.’ ‘If you don't care about politics, you don't love Taiwan.’ […] ‘If you talk about transportation or livelihood issues, you're definitely a collaborator with the Communist Party.’ ‘Traveling to China? You’re definitely a pro-China influencer.’

What’s the difference between these people and the Little Pinks [mainland Chinese online nationalists]. They spend all day writing political satire, mocking and insulting those who live on the same land, [as a result] pushing away the light green and political moderates.

Worse still, like Ker Chien-ming, President William Lai has somehow fueled such antagonism in his political speeches. In one speech near the end of June, he stressed that Taiwan should “eliminate the impurities” through elections and recalls.

The DDP leaders’ rhetoric flamed the pro-China conspiracy theory coined “Green Terror,” which claims that the recall campaign was a means to consolidate the ruling party's power and suppress political dissent. 

A political moderate, Susan Yeh, hence, argued that the most important lesson from the failure of the recall campaign is to caution Taiwan against politics of fear and hatred. The blogger urged political action based on mutual understanding:

反對罷免的人不一定是護航者，而是另一種制度焦慮者。他們在意的，不是那幾個立委的面子，而是「罷免制度是否變成鬥爭工具」的可能性。他們不想失控，他們害怕我們會變成互相獵巫的社會。這不是敵人，而是我們應該認真傾聽、對話的對象。[⋯⋯]

我們要的不是嘴贏，而是真正把人找回來。找到那些還相信制度的人、那些希望台灣更好的中間力量⋯⋯

Those who oppose recall are not necessarily [the KMT] defenders, but rather another group of people anxious about the system. What concerns them is not the reputation of a few legislators, but the possibility that the recall mechanism could become a tool for political struggle. They do not want things to spiral out of control; they are fearful of [Taiwan] being turned into a witch-hunting society. These are not enemies, but people we should listen to and engage in dialogue with. […]

What we want is not just a rhetorical victory, but to truly bring people back. We need to find those who still believe in the system, those middle-of-the-road forces who want a better Taiwan…

When it became clear the recall campaign failed, William Lai attempted to amend the social divide by urging Taiwanese to respect the result and remain faithful to the democratic system: 

選舉和罷免都會有結果，但台灣的民主，只會因為一次次的公民參與，而更加堅韌。

Elections and recalls will always have results, but Taiwan's democracy will only become more resilient with each successive act of civic participation. 

Yet, damage has been done. There are more angry and sarcastic remarks under the President’s statement. Lai made a public apology on behalf of the DPP on July 30.

But for organizers, some hope remains. Although the recall campaign cannot help the ruling DPP gain majority seats in the Legislature, a new group of activists consisting of women, freelancers, and retirees has emerged. They are the ones engaging in grassroots activism who collected more than a million signatures to pass the recall motions.

As the conflict between Lai’s administration and the KMT-dominated parliament is expected to persist until the next General Election in 2028, the recall campaign volunteers who have stepped out of their comfort zone driven by their love of Taiwan will likely be the key actors in finding the political moderates and silent majority and fixing the political social divide.