TAIPEI (TVBS News) — Rain-soaked but resolute, more than 200,000 protesters converged on downtown Taipei Saturday (April 26), transforming Ketagalan Boulevard into a sea of umbrellas and dissent against President Lai Ching-te's (賴清德) administration. The demonstration represents a critical political showdown for opposition lawmakers who, despite controlling Taiwan's legislature, now face organized recall campaigns orchestrated by the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), Taiwan's governing party since 2016.
Standing before the drenched but defiant crowd, Kuomintang (KMT, 國民黨) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), leader of Taiwan's main opposition party, leveled blistering criticism at the president. "It's just the beginning. There are 24 days to go before the anniversary of your inauguration, Lai Ching-te," Chu declared, his voice carrying across the plaza. "The people of Taiwan have given you one year, and you don't do anything but fight."
Taiwan People's Party (TPP, 民眾黨) Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌), representing Taiwan's third-largest political party, founded in 2019, delivered an emotional address that drew thunderous applause when mentioning former Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je, the party's founder, who remains in detention. "Even if Ko Wen-je is still locked up in a detention center, he will fight with the people of Taiwan to the end," Huang declared. "Let Lai Ching-te, who is raising communist spies in the Presidential Office, hear this and return democracy to Taiwan."
Opposition forces have ramped up demands for government reforms amid mounting anxiety about Taiwan's direction, strategically exploiting President Lai's plummeting popularity ratings that have fallen below 40 percent in recent polls. Throughout the demonstration, protesters waved Taiwanese flags and hoisted handmade banners with slogans demanding greater transparency and accountability, transforming the usually stately boulevard into a vibrant tableau of political resistance directly facing the Presidential Office.
Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕), who governs Taiwan's second-largest city and represents a significant KMT stronghold, called for more responsible governance during her address to the increasingly vocal crowd. "We hope that the leaders of our country will steer this ship of Taiwan, with 23 million people on board, well and in the right direction," she told supporters, drawing metaphorical parallels between national leadership and maritime navigation that resonated with the island's population.
The demonstration has taken on heightened significance against the backdrop of former U.S. President Donald Trump's proposed tariff policies, which analysts warn could further undermine Taiwan's export-dependent economy, which is already struggling with global headwinds. The convergence of international trade tensions with domestic political grievances has exacerbated divisions not only within Taiwan's fractious political landscape but across the entire Asia-Pacific region, where economic interdependence increasingly collides with geopolitical rivalry.
Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安), grandson of former Taiwanese President Chiang Ching-kuo and rising star within the KMT, unleashed one of the rally's most scathing indictments of the governing party. "There are no political parties like the DPP in any democratic country, which goes for a general recall to overturn the result after losing an election," Chiang asserted with visible indignation. "Taiwan under the DPP's rule is no different from a dictatorship."
Saturday's massive demonstration arrives at a pivotal juncture for Taiwan's 35-year-old democracy, with opposition forces seeking to harness surging public frustration over economic stagnation and perceived governmental overreach. The DPP, meanwhile, faces mounting challenges in maintaining political momentum and public confidence barely ten months into Lai's presidency, which began with high expectations but has since been plagued by policy setbacks and internal party divisions.
Political analysts watching the escalating confrontation between Taiwan's rival political camps express growing concern that the island's democratic institutions, established after decades of martial law ended in 1987, now face unprecedented strain. Government supporters defend the recall campaigns as legitimate democratic processes, while opposition figures characterize them as politically motivated vendettas designed to overturn legitimate election results, creating a dangerous cycle of recrimination that threatens to erode public faith in Taiwan's democratic system. ★
