Intentionally showing the ballot during the recall vote, Zhao Shaokang may face imprisonment? The Lai Ching-te administration has already contacted prosecutors to investigate Zhao Shaokang. Zhao Shaokang warned that if the recall initiated by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) succeeds, the three months before the by-election will be the most dangerous period.

Renowned media personality and leader of the "Blue Fighting" faction of the Kuomintang (KMT), Zhao Shaokang was attacked by the DPP and its allies due to a "mistake" in his voting action. On the morning of the 26th, Zhao Shaokang went to the Da'an High School polling station to cast his vote; after marking the ballot, as he walked out of the voting area, he kept the ballot facing outward, allowing the media outside the polling station to clearly capture the content he marked, and then put the ballot into the ballot box.

Zhao Shaokang's act of showing the ballot may violate the regulations of the "Public Office Election and Recall Act." According to Article 88, Paragraph 2 of the "Public Office Election and Recall Act," voters are not allowed to show the marked content to others after marking their ballots; Article 105 also clearly states that those who are ordered to leave but do not leave may be sentenced to no more than two years in prison, detention, or fined up to NT$200,000.

Taipei City Election Commission stated that this act has violated the "Public Office Election and Recall Act," and can result in a sentence of no more than two years in prison, detention, or a fine of up to NT$200,000.

The "Central Election Commission" of the Lai Ching-te administration quickly stated that the case will be handled by the Taipei City Police Department contacting the prosecutors for investigation.

Some pro-green online troops have demanded that Zhao Shaokang be imprisoned, accusing him of "leading the illegal act."

Zhao Shaokang later admitted his mistake. He explained that it was an accidental error, accidentally exposing the front of the ballot, which was a wrong example, and he was very sorry.

However, Zhao Shaokang still emphasized that his stance of "not supporting the recall" is well known to the public; today, the weather was very good, and he still urged people to go out and vote as soon as possible.

Generally speaking, the final handling of such acts of illegally showing the ballot would likely be a fine instead of imprisonment. A fine of up to NT$200,000 (approximately RMB 40,000) will be decided by the judge.

Regarding the consequences of this large-scale recall, Zhao Shaokang said in an interview that if the recall is successful, there will be a two- to three-month gap between the dismissal of the legislator and the by-election. During this time, the DPP could do whatever they want in the Legislative Yuan, passing any bill at will, which would be very dangerous.

In fact, once the DPP successfully recalls a significant number of officials, Zhu Liren, Lu Xiuyan, Han Kuo-yu, and Huang Kuo-chang might be "wiped out": Zhu might lose his position as chairman of the KMT; Lu Xiuyan could take over as party chairman and run for the 2028 election with reduced political energy; Han Kuo-yu might lose his position as speaker of the Legislative Yuan; and Huang Kuo-chang might be targeted by Lai Ching-te. If the DPP loses the check and balance in the Legislative Yuan, Lai Ching-te's provocations on cross-strait relations may escalate, making the Taiwan Strait situation even more dangerous.

Conversely, if Lai Ching-te fails in this recall, the first thing he would face is internal purges within the DPP, with the party secretary-general Lin You-chang and the head of the Executive Yuan, Zhuo Yong-tai, becoming the "number one villains," and possibly forced to make significant changes to the cabinet.

For Lai Ching-te, a more serious consequence is that he will face strong public backlash from the local population if the recall fails. "Willing to gamble but unwilling to accept the loss" and "maliciously disrupting Taiwan" will become political labels that he cannot shake off. "Disliking the DPP" and "Lai Ching-te resign" will become persistent public sentiment, which will inevitably cause a mudslide-like impact on the DPP's 2026 "Nine-in-One" elections and the 2028 Taiwan regional leader and legislative elections, possibly shattering Lai Ching-te's re-election dreams prematurely.

Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/1838683536903175/

Statement: This article represents the views of the author.