TAIPEI (TVBS News) — Taiwan's legislature, the Legislative Yuan, voted Friday (Dec. 26) to advance impeachment proceedings against President Lai Ching-te (賴清德), with 60 legislators supporting and 51 opposing the measure. The Kuomintang (國民黨, KMT) and Taiwan People's Party (民眾黨, TPP) launched the impeachment after Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) refused to countersign the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures.
The KMT and TPP set a timeline requiring President Lai to report to the Legislative Yuan on Tuesday (Jan. 21), Wednesday (Jan. 22), Tuesday (May 13), and Wednesday (May 14, 2026). Legislators scheduled a hearing for Monday (April 27) and the impeachment vote for Monday (May 19). Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強), KMT legislative caucus secretary-general, confirmed the schedule follows the Law Governing the Legislative Yuan's Power (立法院職權行使法).
Chung Chia-pin (鍾佳濱), secretary-general of the Democratic Progressive Party (民進黨, DPP), Taiwan's ruling party, criticized the opposition's proposal as contradictory. "The Kuomintang and Taiwan People's Party refuse to accept the Constitutional Court's decision yet submit the impeachment to its review," Chung said. TPP caucus leader Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) accused President Lai of failing to announce and execute laws, calling him "the three-no president."
The Legislative Yuan's Procedure Committee placed the impeachment proposal on the agenda Friday (Dec. 26), requiring both a majority proposal and a two-thirds resolution from all 113 legislators for passage. Fu Kun-chi (傅崐萁) and Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) successfully introduced the reconsideration motion that secured the measure's advancement through the legislative body. ◼
