Opposition parties in Taiwan’s legislature initiated impeachment proceedings last Friday against President William Lai Ching-te and Premier Cho Jung-tai. The Kuomintang (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) accuse the officials of violating the constitution and the legislative process.
While legislators from the KMT, TPP, and two independents held enough votes to begin the proceedings, they do not have the two-thirds majority required to pass an impeachment vote scheduled for May 19. If the measure were to pass the legislature, it would then move to Taiwan’s Constitutional Court for a final decision.
The move follows a period of legislative disagreement since Lai’s Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lost its majority in the legislature in elections last year, resulting in a divided government.
Yen-tu Su, an expert in constitutional law at the research institution Academia Sinica, stated that the impeachment effort is unlikely to succeed in removing the president from office.
“It’s not possible to have a real impeachment; however, they want to make a record that President Lai would be the first president considered impeached in the history of Taiwan’s democracy,” Su said. “It’s a way to register their protest. It’s a way to humiliate the president, and also a way to retaliate against the executive branch refusal to promulgate legislation passed by the legislators.”
Since Lai took office, legislative action on several key issues has stalled. The legislature has not passed sections of the 2026 budget. Additionally, the KMT has blocked a proposed $40 billion supplemental bill aimed at increasing Taiwan’s defense spending.
Earlier this month, Premier Cho vetoed a bill passed by the opposition that would have changed how tax revenues are allocated between Taiwan’s central and local governments. Cho argued the plan was not feasible.
Brian Hioe, a non-resident fellow at the University of Nottingham’s Taiwan Research Hub, described the impeachment campaign as a symbolic action.
“I think it’s just a stunt so that they’ll get attention,” Hioe said. He added that the opposition parties “want to paint [Lai] as infringing upon democratic institutions in a way that is beyond the pale.” Hioe suggested the move would appeal primarily to core KMT and TPP supporters.
Su of Academia Sinica noted that this is Taiwan’s second experience with a divided government, with the first occurring from 2000 to 2008.
“We did have a prior experience with a divided government… but this time things are much uglier, and much more difficult due to partisan polarisation,” he said.
