56. The Great Recall of 2025: Nathan Batto “Frozen Garlic” (Academia Sinica)

On July 26th, a third of Taiwan will vote on recall referendums (大罷免) for 24 legislators throughout Taiwan.

Our guest is Nathan F. Batto, an associate research fellow at the Institute of Political Science, Academia Sinica. Taiwan watchers also know him as the writer of Frozen Garlic wordpress on Taiwanese elections.

We discuss how we got here: the KMT/TPP coalition in the legislature, the passionate activists who have been organizing the nation-wide movements; how the recall threshold was lowered in 2016 after the Sunflower Movement; the social cost of participating in recall bids, and how that affected the success rate of bids in cities versus in rural communities; And the impact of a perpetual election cycle. 

Facts & figures:

• This recall will affect 24 legislators, ie: more than a quarter of elected seats. (Taiwan’s legislative assembly is made of 113 seats. 79 are elected directly by constituents in districts. Another 24 are composed of party seats as decided by proportion of party votes.)
• All 24 legislators up for a recall on July 26th are from the Kuomingtang (Nationalist Party, KMT).
• To meet the recall threshold, number of votes in favor of removing a lawmaker must exceed the number of votes against; and surpass 25% of eligible voters in that district.
• By-elections will be held in the fall. If the DDP gains six seats in the legislature as a result, they will gain majority.

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