Taiwan's main opposition Kuomintang staged a protest outside the Taipei district prosecutor's office as investigations into alleged signature fraud in mass recall petitions continue, with prosecutors seeking to detain four KMT members. At the rally, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an called for the Cabinet to be replaced.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Four local leaders of the main opposition, Kuomintang, now wanted by prosecutors for
00:05alleged involvement in signature fraud. It's part of investigations into misconduct in
00:10mass recall campaigns in Taiwan, campaigns sparked by bitter conflict and deadlock in
00:15the opposition-controlled legislature. Senior KMT officials, including the party's
00:22chair, Eric Zhu, called for this protest against the four's potential detention outside the
00:27prosecutor's office Thursday night. They say these investigations are unreasonable.
00:32Taipei mayor and KMC member Jiang Wanan called out what he says is bias for the ruling Democratic
00:38Progressive Party within the prosecutor's office.
00:57On Friday morning, the premier responding to Jiang's calls to oust the cabinet.
01:10A vote of no confidence in the premier would require support from half of the legislature,
01:24where opposition parties hold a slight majority. But the legality of Thursday's protest is being
01:29called into question, with the interior minister calling for an investigation.
01:45As recall campaigns to oust both KMT and DPP legislators advance, analysts say this political
01:52storm has been a long time coming.
01:54This confluence, which the KMT returned to power in the legislature, but does not hold the presidency,
02:00but also experienced then successive defeats in all these presidential election campaigns,
02:04that I think is what led to its attempts to expand legislative powers last year,
02:08then to freeze the Supreme Court, and then to then in fact cut the budget so drastically.
02:14So now we're seeing this play out again electorally in terms of recalls.
02:18The KMT is calling for another rally outside the presidential office on April 26th to call
02:24for a vote of no confidence in President Lai Ching-de. And as political parties get more involved
02:29in these civic-led recall campaigns, it's a time of reckoning for lawmakers and their parties.
02:36Justin Wu and Tiffany Wong for Taiwan Plus.