Legislative Yuan Speaker Han Kuo-yu departed from his prepared text at the National Day ceremony to criticise President Lai Ching-te for "fake democracy, real dictatorship," further escalating the confrontation between the executive and legislative branches — a development unfavourable to the governing Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and a boost in momentum for the Kuomintang (KMT).

• Han said that if Lai Ching-te does not resolve the deadlock between the executive and legislative branches, it will severely damage Taiwan's democracy. He also criticised the Executive Yuan for refusing to countersign legislation and for calling the mass recall campaign a "political hunt."
• The Presidential Office hit back, saying Han's words and conduct were improper at an event attended by foreign guests and had made Taiwan a laughing stock internationally, and it apologised to the dignitaries present.
• Premier Cho Jung-tai said the calculation formula in the amended Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures was clearly flawed, and that refusing to countersign was a forced but necessary step to uphold constitutional order.
• Puma Shen, the DPP's candidate for Taipei mayor, did not join in the pile-on, saying instead that differing opinions are the very essence of democracy, and pointing to the paralysis of the Constitutional Court and the opposition's rejection of nominees for grand justice and Control Yuan member as the source of the deadlock.
• The controversy has also been folded into calculations about 2028, with some media commentators arguing that Han Kuo-yu is currently the KMT's most plausible candidate to stand on equal footing with Lai Ching-te.

Outlook: With only about a month and a half to go before the local elections, the standoff between the two branches is unlikely to be resolved soon, and the blue-green contest in the Taipei mayoral race will grow more heated.