Politicians react to Keelung mayor Hsieh defeating recall vote

Taipei, Oct. 13 (CNA) Mayor Hsieh Kuo-liang (謝國樑) thanked his party for their support as well as the people of Keelung for voting against a public recall motion targeting his mayoralty on Sunday, while other political parties and groups also reacted to the result.

"Today's result doesn't belong to me, but instead belongs to the entire people of Keelung," Hsieh told his assembled supporters on Sunday evening, after figures from the Keelung City Election Commission showed 86,014 votes (55.16 percent of valid votes) were cast in favor of him remaining in office.

Hsieh thanked top leaders from the main opposition Kuomintang (KMT) for their support, including former President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕), Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安), New Taipei Mayor Hou Yu-ih (侯友宜) and Taoyuan Mayor Chang San-cheng (張善政).

"With the recall vote now over, from tomorrow the hard work of the city government will continue," Hsieh told the jubilant crowd.

"Thank you to the folks in Keelung for using their votes to protect Keelung and protect Taiwan's democracy," wrote KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) on Facebook shortly after the results were announced.

"The great citizens of Keelung chose kindness and stability, and prevented the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) from using hatred and revenge to harm Keelung and harm democracy," he wrote, suggesting the DPP had been behind the campaign to recall Hsieh.

Taiwan's third-largest political party, the Taiwan People's Party (TPP), also issued a statement to the media on Sunday evening, expressing their view that the DPP's "green neo-authoritarian system" is already "unbearable to the people."

DPP spokesperson Cho Kuan-ting (卓冠廷) wrote in a press release on Sunday evening that "despite the strong mobilization" of the KMT, nearly 70,000 citizens voted to recall Hsieh.

"The fact so many Keelung residents are not satisfied with Hsieh Kuo-liang cannot be overlooked," Cho wrote, referring to the 69,934 ballots (44.84 percent of valid votes) cast in favor of recalling Hsieh.

Meanwhile, Lin Yin-yin (林茵茵), a spokesperson for the organization "Movement of Sea Mountain Citizens to Demolish Hsieh Kuo-liang" that initiated the recall vote, told assembled supporters after the results came out that the "determination to supervise the Keelung government absolutely won't change."

Lin said it was "regrettable" that the campaign's opponents framed the recall vote as a "political struggle" between the KMT and the DPP.

Tai Ching-an (戴璟安), who played a key role in initiating the recall vote in March this year, said "we are just ordinary citizens" and that the recall vote had "nothing to do with political parties."

"We will try to win in two years time," he added, referring to the fact that Hsieh, because he defeated the recall vote on Sunday, is now safe from any future recall attempts for the rest of his term of office.

The campaigners initiated the recall vote in March due to what they characterized as unfulfilled election promises by Hsieh and a dispute over a change in the operator of Keelung E-Square Mall.

However, not only did a majority of voters reject Hsieh's dismissal, the number of ballots in favor of Hsieh stepping down from office did not meet the required 25 percent threshold of 77,700 ballots needed to remove him from office.

In all seven of the northern port city's districts, the number of votes in favor of Hsieh stepping down was lower than the number of votes rejecting the recall.

The results indicated a voter turnout of 50.44 percent of 310,797 eligible voters. The final results are pending certification by the Central Election Commission.