SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
In Taiwan, voters went to the polls in an attempt to recall dozens of lawmakers, a fifth of the parliament. The members targeted are all from the opposition party, which has a parliamentary majority. And just hours after polls closed today, Taiwan Central Election Commission said that all 24 recall attempts failed. Reporter Jan Camenzind Broomby in Taipei. Thanks so much for being with us.
JAN CAMENZIND BROOMBY: Thank you for having me.
SIMON: Complicated dynamics are at play here. Please break down the vote for us.
CAMENZIND BROOMBY: Yeah. Since Taiwan's election in 2024, opposition legislators have repeatedly blocked the government push to increase parliament's power, cut national spending and most importantly, the defense budget, all at a time when China has stepped up military and diplomatic pressure on the Democratic island. And so for months, volunteers have gathered thousands of signatures necessary to trigger the recall of opposition lawmakers. Campaigners like Mitch Yang (ph), international spokesperson of one of these recall groups, worry that the opposition is undermining Taiwan's national security and may even be working together with Beijing. I joined Mitch on the campaign trail ahead of today's vote. Here's what he had to say.
MITCH YANG: They want to paralyze the administration. They want to undermine the government. So at the end, the cost for CCP to invade Taiwan will be much lower. We need to at least replace six of them, so then we'll regain the majority.
CAMENZIND BROOMBY: The CCP is, of course, the Chinese Communist Party, and so civic groups aligned with the sitting president have forced this vote, making use of a rarely utilized part of Taiwan's constitution, the recall petition, to replace opposition legislators through a set of votes, which will see some 20% of the parliament face the prospect of being recalled.
SIMON: That's some very strong language - sabotaging Taiwan and undermining the government. How does the opposition respond to those accusations?
CAMENZIND BROOMBY: Well, the opposition, KMT, have always strongly denied any collaboration with China. Instead, they say that they're the only party in Taiwan that can engage in dialogue with Beijing while also maintaining deterrence, a combination that they see as necessary to ensure peace. Here's Alexander Huang, director of international affairs for the KMT, on Taiwan's relationship with China.
ALEXANDER HUANG: We should be smarter, and smarter means deterrence plus dialogue. We cannot afford to have zero communication but full confrontation.
CAMENZIND BROOMBY: And as for the defense cuts, they say they're simply holding the Taiwanese president William Lai to account and claim that the recalls are equivalent to refusing to accept the outcome of the 2024 election.
SIMON: And, Jan, what does the outcome of today's vote mean for the future?
CAMENZIND BROOMBY: As you mentioned, Taiwan's election commission has announced that all 24 recall attempts have failed today. Now, this isn't a massive surprise. These votes were all taking place in opposition-held seats, many of them in opposition strongholds, even. And it's also not the end of the story either. The votes today only included 24 legislators, and there are another seven opposition parliamentarians facing a recall ballot in just a matter of weeks. And recall supporters only need to get six lawmakers to be recalled if they want to be successful.
But despite that, the opposition sees today as a victory, and supporters of the recall campaign I've been speaking to now worry that they will be even more emboldened to continue to block the government's legislative agenda moving forward.
SIMON: Thanks so much. Reporter Jan Camenzind Broomby in Taipei. Thanks for being with us.
CAMENZIND BROOMBY: Thank you.
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