KMT urges revision of recall law after Keelung mayor recall vote

Taipei, Oct. 14 (CNA) The main opposition Kuomintang (KMT) will push for changes to the Public Officials Election and Recall Act to tighten rules on the signature-collection process before a recall vote can be held, KMT Legislator Lin Szu-ming (林思銘) said Monday.

The comment came a day after Keelung Mayor Hsieh Kuo-liang (謝國樑) of the KMT survived a recall vote convened by a civic group, in which the 86,014 votes (55.15 percent of valid votes) cast in favor of him remaining in office outnumbered the 69,934 votes (44.85 percent) to recall him.

It was a good result for the KMT, but its legislative caucus argued that the process needed to be tightened up to prevent frequent recall votes, even if its amendment proposal seems tame at best.

Lin said the party would require promoters and endorsers of any petition to hold a recall to attach a copy of their identification card with the petition.

The goal, he said, would be to prevent potential irregularities during the initial signature-collecting process before a recall vote could be launched, Lin said at a news conference alongside KMT lawmakers Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強) and Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥).

Given the current low bar that requires campaigners to only present the ID number and registered address of endorsers to local election commissions, Lin said the signature collection process must be made more precise to prevent foul play.

In some previous cases, it was widely known that even deceased people were listed as eligible voters in campaigners' recall vote lists, Lin argued, and the review of the signatures is often flawed due to the election commissions' lack of manpower.

Because related draft revisions proposed by two KMT legislators on the ID card issue were sent directly to a second reading on July 12 without being reviewed by a committee, the party will ask Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) to hold cross-party negotiations in a week to push for its passage, Lin said.

Lin Pei-hsiang argued that the revisions were necessary because of the substantial resources needed if more recall votes were to be initiated next year, citing the NT$30 million (US$931,000) it cost to hold Sunday's vote.

Meanwhile, Taiwan People's Party (TPP) legislative caucus whip Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) said he "agreed and backed the planned amendments to impose vigorous measures on the process prior to calling a recall vote" to ensure the direct participation of an initiative's endorsers.

Judging from recall votes in past years, people were listed as eligible voters without their knowledge, Huang said, and he claimed that some campaigners even copied lists of names, without providing evidence.

Sunday's recall vote result signaled an alarm bell to the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), Huang said, describing it as reflecting the Keelung people's disgruntlement with President Lai Ching-te's (賴清德) "neo-authoritarian regime."

Asked whether he was concerned that Hsinchu Mayor Kao Hung-an (高虹安), who left the TPP and was suspended from her post after the Taipei District Court in July handed down a seven-year-and-four-month prison sentence to her for corruption, would be the DPP's next recall target, Huang said the DPP needed to think carefully about what really mattered to the people.

"Everybody is well aware that the DPP was scheming behind the scenes," he said.

At a separate news conference, DPP legislative caucus secretary-general Wu Szu-yao (吳思瑤) criticized the KMT-TPP plan to push through the amendment at the Legislature, calling it a move aimed at taking back the people's right granted by the Constitution.

DPP Legislator Tsai Yi-yu (蔡易餘) said the current recall vote system is a balanced one, as the results of previous recall votes proved that there were winners and losers, regardless of who launched them.