TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — With the first major round of legislative recall voted scheduled for July 26, the Taiwan People’s Party held an anti-recall rally in front of the Democratic Progressive Party headquarters in Taipei on Sunday.  

TPP Chair Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌), called on voters to turn out in support of the five KMT candidates who are at risk of being recalled. Huang said voters must remind President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) and the DPP that the people are the real rulers of the country, per CNA.  

The eight-person TPP legislative caucus, along with Taipei KMT legislators targeted by the recall, spoke to the crowds. Speakers urged the public to use their votes to reject the recall referendums. 

Peggy Chen (陳佩琪), the wife of TPP founder Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), also spoke publicly for the first time to condemn the DPP’s mass recall campaign. She said that if the recall strategy succeeds, Taiwan will become an autocracy, and her husband would be imprisoned until his death, reported CNA. 

Peggy Chen said that it is natural in a democracy for opposition parties to supervise the actions of the ruling party. Chen and others characterized the upcoming recall votes as a battle between dictatorship and democracy. 

Huang likewise said the mass recall was organized because the DPP could not accept any supervision or accountability in governance. He claimed that the DPP recall campaign is aimed at stifling dissenting voices in government, reported UDN.