Taiwan’s opposition launches ‘symbolic’ campaign to impeach president

Opposition parties accuse President Lai and Premier Cho of violating Taiwan’s constitution in impeachment bid.Published On 26 Dec 2025Taiwan’s opposition parties have moved forward with an impeachment campaign to remove President William Lai Ching-te and Premier Cho Jung-tai from office, in what observers say is the latest sign of deepening political polarisation within the self-ruled island.The Kuomintang (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) began impeachment proceedings on Friday against President Lai and Premier Cho, who they accuse of violating the constitution and the legislative process.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,401list 2 of 4Polish jets intercept Russian reconnaissance plane spotted near airspacelist 3 of 4US releases missile launch video after northwest Nigeria strikelist 4 of 4North Korea’s Kim Jong Un pushes more missile production as ‘war deterrent’end of listLegislators with the KMT, TPP, and two independents had enough seats to initiate proceedings on Friday, but they are still short of the two-thirds majority of lawmakers needed to pass an impeachment vote scheduled for May 19.Observers say that while the impeachment proceedings are unlikely to clear further hurdles in Taiwan’s Constitutional Court, they offer the opposition a symbolic way to protest their displeasure at Lai’s presidency and Cho’s premiership.“It’s not possible to have a real impeachment; however, they want to make a record that President Lai would be the first president considered impeached in the history of Taiwan’s democracy,” said Yen-tu Su, an expert in constitutional law and democratic theory at Academia Sinica, Taiwan’s top research institution.“It’s a way to register their protest. It’s a way to humiliate the president, and also a way to retaliate against the executive branch refusal to promulgate legislation passed by the legislators,” he told Al Jazeera.Taiwan’s legislature has been largely in deadlock since Lai took office in 2024 amid a divided government.