Taiwan, recall
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It was a mad dash to the finish, with Taiwanese on both sides seeing the vote as a battle for the future of their country.
Taiwanese voters rejected a bid to oust about one-fifth of their lawmakers, all from the opposition Nationalist Party, in a recall election Saturday, dampening hopes for the ruling party to flip the balance of power in the self-ruled island’s legislature.
An important reason why the recall vote was defeated is a testament to the Taiwanese people’s desire to maintain a thriving democracy and a semblance of checks and balances but on a very practice level,
On July 26, Taiwan will set a new record for a developed democracy, holding recall referendums for 24 opposition legislators as well as one opposition mayor. This is nothing to be proud of; the mass recalls of more than a fifth of Taiwan’s legislature are the latest sign of a political crisis that has largely gone unnoticed internationally.