Brian Hioeby Brian Hioe
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Photo Credit: Eric Chu/Facebook
THE KMT’S RECALL campaigns against DPP legislators have run aground. With fifteen recall campaigns, compared to the 35 recall campaigns facing KMT legislators, recall efforts against DPP politicians were always smaller in scale than the other way around. Even if eight of the pan-Blue recall campaigns against DPP legislators still have time to collect further signatures, a number of the high-profile KMT recall campaigns have not succeeded. The overall effort to launch recalls of DPP legislators, then, is largely viewed as a failure.
That KMT legislators are facing recall, but DPP legislators are not, reflects that the so-called “Great Recall Movement” is not, in fact, a series of “revenge recalls” between the pan-Blue and pan-Green camps. Rather, the “Great Recall Movement” is solely a product of public anger against the KMT. Such anger stems from actions by the KMT in the last two years including blocking or drastically cutting the national budget, freezing the Constitutional Court, and previously seeking to expand legislative powers in a way that would arrogate powers that normally belong to the judiciary and executive branches of government to the legislature. In this sense, the DPP’s recall campaigns have been organic and self-organized, if still tacitly supported by the DPP. The same cannot be said of the KMT’s recall campaigns directed against DPP legislators, which are party-organized.
That the KMT has faced challenges collecting signatures against the DPP is, in fact, surprising. The KMT has always performed more strongly at the local level in Taiwanese politics, reflective of long-standing clientelism and patronage networks by the KMT dating back to the authoritarian period and the era of “Black gold” corruption during this period.
However, the KMT’s challenges in signature collection led a number of local party chapters to copy party rolls, something that is illegal. As such, KMT local party officials have been summoned for questioning by authorities, and local chapters have been searched by police. The KMT has attempted to frame such actions as an attempt by the DPP to interfere in recall campaigns, including claiming that the DPP is engaged in a Nazi-like campaign of persecution.
It may be that the KMT is far weaker at the level of local party chapters than in the past. Likewise, compared to an election year, the central leadership of the KMT is unable to divert as many resources to local chapters as it would in an election.
Some of the KMT’s failures in organizing recalls against DPP legislators have been embarrassing. In Zhongzheng-Wanhua, legislator Wu Pei-yi has been a prominent target, as a Sunflower Movement activist who later became a DPP legislator, and who is known to be close to former president Tsai Ing-wen.
Apart from failing to meet benchmarks by 3,000 signatures, after the convenor of the campaign was questioned for signature fraud, his mother lashed out at the KMT for putting young people in the line of fire over its recall efforts, while denouncing the KMT’s political stances more broadly. Similarly, with regards to the recall campaign against Rosalia Wu, who is a prominent target as the DPP’s secretary-general, the convenor of the campaign failed to submit the signatures due to anger over the signature of his deceased mother being among the fraudulent signatures used by the campaign. It is suspected that the recall against Rosalia Wu may not have had enough signatures to begin with.
The KMT’s failure in organizing recall campaigns against the DPP has led to criticisms of party chair Eric Chu. Anger against Chu for the perceived missteps of the KMT in the recall is building, something that may strengthen challengers of Chu in the upcoming race for KMT party chair. Taichung mayor Lu Shiow-yen is expected to challenge Chu, who has stated that he hopes for a smooth transition of power in the party chair race, but likely plans to run again. Other candidates could include deep Blue firebrand Chang Ya-chung, who previously challenged Chu for party chair.
It is possible the KMT will continue to allege political interference by the DPP pertaining to the failure of recall votes. Particularly if the recalls against the KMT are successful, this could mean that a round of bloodletting is in order to call for political responsibility over the KMT’s missteps.