Taiwan's first case! President Lai Ching-te's impeachment failed, Han Kuo-yu and Jiang Qichen did not vote

Taiwan’s first-ever presidential impeachment case against President Lai Ching-te arose due to disputes over the budget allocation law. The Legislative Yuan held a vote today. The result was 56 votes in favor and 50 votes against. It did not reach the legal threshold of 76 votes, so the impeachment motion was not approved. Parties across the political spectrum differed in their stances, and each issued statements criticizing the other.

Taiwan’s first case! President Lai Ching-te’s impeachment motion was not approved
----------------

This was Taiwan’s first presidential impeachment case, but it was not approved. According to reports from the Central News Agency and Public Television News Network, the Legislative Yuan held a roll-call vote this morning on President Lai Ching-te’s impeachment motion. Today, a total of 106 legislators obtained voting cards, and the final result was 56 votes in favor and 50 votes against. Since the number of votes supporting the motion did not reach the legal threshold of 76 people, the impeachment motion was not approved.

The Legislative Yuan currently has 113 seats. Under the regulations, a presidential impeachment motion must be proposed by at least half of all legislators and must be resolved by more than two-thirds of the legislators, before the Legislative Yuan may request the Justices of the Constitutional Court to review the case.

Seven legislators did not participate in the vote; Lai Ching-te did not attend inquiry in January
--------------------

This impeachment motion originated after Premier Su Tseng-chang announced that he would not co-sign the amendments to the budget allocation law, leading to joint proposals by Kuomintang and Taiwan People’s Party legislators.

On January 21 and 22 this year, the Legislative Yuan invited Lai Ching-te to the legislature to explain and be questioned, but Lai Ching-te did not attend. Later, at the hearing on April 27, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators protested the impeachment’s lack of legitimacy through a collective absence; ultimately, only experts invited by the Blue and White caucuses were present.

In today’s vote, a total of 7 people did not obtain voting cards, including Deputy Speaker Han Kuo-yu and Jiang Qichen, as well as absent Kuomintang legislator Chen Yuzhen and independent legislator Chen Chaoming. In addition, Kuomintang legislator Liao Weixiang, DPP legislator Guo Yuxing, and Taiwan People’s Party legislator Chen Zhaoci did not participate in the vote because they traveled to Geneva, Switzerland to attend the WHA Taiwan Smart Medical and Health Industry Exhibition.

Parties across the spectrum differed in stance; ahead of the vote, each issued statements
-------------------

Before the vote, both the DPP and the Taiwan People’s Party caucuses spoke out on social media.

The DPP caucus accused the Kuomintang and Taiwan People’s Party of leading an impeachment motion that was clearly unlikely to pass, wasting public attention. They also criticized both parties for repeatedly introducing controversial bills that infringe on the separation of powers, paralyze constitutional institutions, and violate fairness and justice. The caucus accused them of seizing control of the discussion process, delaying the review of the national budget, and maliciously obstructing personnel cases, thereby blocking the country from moving forward.

The Taiwan People’s Party caucus, meanwhile, posted a statement accusing that the DPP, as the ruling party, has lost supervision and checks and balances. They also cited comments by U.S. President Donald Trump, saying that although Taiwan has committed to investing in the U.S., it has not received clear security assurances in return. At the same time, they criticized multiple domestic policy platforms for failing to deliver. Finally, the party argued that a coalition government should be established to unite Taiwan, and that removing Lai Ching-te from office in 2028 should be set as the sole goal.

Further reading:
Lai Ching-te was also a victim! A credit-checking company used USDT to buy 93 million data records of Taiwanese people, then packaged and sold them