Kinmen County Council motion to recall speaker falls short

Taipei, Sept. 9 (CNA) The Kinmen County Council failed to pass a vote to recall its speaker, Hung Yun-tien (洪允典) of the opposition Kuomintang (KMT), on Monday after an insufficient number of councilors turned out to vote.

The voting session was hosted by Deputy Speaker Ou Yang I-hsiung (歐陽儀雄), who announced the adjournment of the meeting after only eight out of 19 county councilors showed up and only six officially registered their attendance.

It means the motion failed to meet the 10-member attendance quorum required by law.

The result marked the end of Taiwan's first-ever council-level recall campaign since the Local Government Act was enacted in 1999.

According to the Act, a recall motion is effective only if more than half of all members attend and over two-thirds favor the decision.

With the motion failing to go proceed, Hung will not face a second recall vote before the end of 2024 when his tenure expires under the Act.

The recall motion reflected a power shift following the county council election in 2022, especially after Wu Pei-wen (吳佩雯), an independent county councilor who does not support Hung, was sworn in in May this year, according to local media outlet, Mirror Media.

Wu succeeded Yang Yu-han (楊育菡), a pro-Hung independent councilor whose election was nullified in March this year after a vote for her during the 2022 election was found to have been cast by a so-called "ghost citizen."

"Ghost citizens" refer to those who change their household registration for the purpose of voting for certain candidates, which violates the Public Officials Election And Recall Act.

Yang being unseated from the county council was seen by those opposed to Hung as a chance to challenge his power.

Now 73, Hung has been elected to the Kinmen County Council seven times in a row since 1998 and is the only local speaker to have held the position twice.

He ran as an independent candidate in his first three terms and represented the KMT in the last four.

The recall vote was proposed by nine council members dissatisfied with Hung's "lackluster efforts at hosting council meetings" and alleged misappropriation of council resources for personal use.

In a report by Mirror Media in early July, which referred to Hung as a "local emperor," a source claimed that the speaker ordered council staff to handle gardening and household chores and use the council car to transport his wife as she wished.

Many council members believe this harmed their image.

KMT Kinmen County Councilor Chou Tzu-chieh (周子傑), one of the main initiators of the bid to recall Hung, expressed regret over Monday's result. He added that the record of Hung's actions persist, despite the failed attempt to remove him.

Meanwhile, Tung Sen-pao (董森堡), an independent councilor who attended Monday's meeting, said that despite the result, councilors should still work to ensure the council runs effectively.

The Kinmen County Council consists of seven KMT members, one from the ruling Democratic Progressive Party, and 11 independents.