Taipei: The Central Election Commission (CEC) announced Thursday that they held a committee meeting the previous day, approving recall vote proposals for 19 legislators and a city mayor.
According to Focus Taiwan, nine additional recall vote proposals reviewed by the committee have not yet met the required proposal threshold and still need supplementation before approval. As of 8:30 p.m. Thursday, the CEC had not disclosed the names of the elected politicians. However, it is likely that the proposals refer to 19 Kuomintang (KMT) lawmakers and the currently-suspended Hsinchu City Mayor Kao Hung-an, for whom recall vote proposals were submitted on February 3, the earliest date for such petitions.
The lawmakers include prominent opposition figures such as KMT legislative caucus whip Fu Kun-chi and veteran lawmaker Wang Hung-wei. The other 17 KMT lawmakers whose recall vote proposals were submitted on February 3 are Lee Yen-hsiu, Yeh Yuan-chih, Niu Hsu-ting, Tu Chuan-chi, Lu Ming-che, Wan Mei-ling, Lu Yu-ling, Chiu Jo-hua, Cheng Cheng-chien, Yu Hao, Yen Kuan-heng, Liao Wei-hsiang, Huang Chien-hao, Lo Ting-wei, Ting Hsueh-chung, Huang Chien-pin, and Ma Wen-chun. The CEC also approved recall vote proposals for two city or county councilors but did not identify them by name.
Recall vote proposals for other national and local lawmakers submitted after February 3 will be addressed in the coming days to meet legal deadlines. Taiwan's Public Officials Election and Recall Act stipulates that certain elected officials may be removed from office if more than half of at least 25 percent of eligible voters in their district cast ballots in favor of a recall, with more ballots in favor than against.
Activists aiming to remove a district-elected lawmaker must first submit a recall proposal signed by more than 1 percent of eligible voters from the relevant district, according to the CEC website. The CEC committee's actions on Thursday allow activists whose proposals were approved to begin the second stage of collecting signatures from at least 10 percent of eligible voters within 60 days to qualify for a legal recall vote.
As of Thursday, the CEC has received 64 recall vote proposals, including 54 for national lawmakers, nine for city or county councilors, and one for the Hsinchu City mayor. Among this unprecedented wave of recall proposals, over 30 target KMT lawmakers, who, along with eight Taiwan People's Party and two independent lawmakers, hold 62 seats in the 113-seat Legislature.