2025 Taiwanese mass electoral recall campaigns

In 2025, civic groups^[who?] in Taiwan initiated a political campaign (Chinese: 大罷免潮, Great Recall Wave) aiming to recall Kuomintang legislators.^[1]

Signboard of the Great Recall against the KMT legislators supported by the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan.

Background

In 2024, after the inauguration of Kuomintang (KMT) and Taiwan People's Party (TPP) legislators in the 11th Legislative Yuan, a series of controversies arose, including the reforms to legislative powers, the passage of three major bills—the Constitutional Court Procedure Act (CCPA), the Public Officials Election and Recall Act, and the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures—as well as budget cuts to the 2025 national budget. In response, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and civic groups launched the Bluebird Movement in an attempt to block the passage of these controversial bills. However, due to their numerical disadvantage in the Legislative Yuan, they were ultimately unable to prevent the KMT-TPP coalition [zh] from passing all the proposed legislation.^[2]

As a result, civic groups began organizing petitions to recall certain KMT legislators. On 4 January, DPP caucus leader Ker Chien-ming publicly called for a large-scale recall of all KMT district legislators.^[3] The first recall vote proposals were submitted on 3 February, the earliest possible day given that only lawmakers who have been in office for at least a year are eligible for recall.^[4] As of 10 March, recall campaigns had been expanded to include 34 of 39 KMT district legislators.^[5] In response, the KMT also initiated counter-recall efforts against DPP legislators.^[6] The movement eventually expanded to include local government officials, such as mayors and councilors, evolving into a nationwide recall battle between the pan-blue and pan-green camps.