Legislature to hold cross-party consultation on recall petition rules

Taipei, Feb. 3 (CNA) The Legislative Yuan on Monday received a request by the Executive Yuan to hold another vote on legislation that would tighten requirements to initiate votes to recall elected officials and will discuss the issue Thursday.

Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) has scheduled the meeting at which ruling and opposition party lawmakers will discuss a timetable for handling the proposal for Thursday at 1 p.m.

The Legislature passed several amendments to the Public Officials Election and Recall Act late last year aimed at tightening requirements for petitions used to initiate a vote to recall an elected official.

The new amendments would require individuals initiating a recall petition and signatories of recall petitions to provide photocopies of their identification cards when submitting their signatures.

In addition, anyone found guilty of using someone else's identification or forging an ID for a recall petition could be subject to a jail sentence of up to five years or face a fine of up to NT$1 million (US$30,237).

At present, campaigners only have to list the ID numbers and registered addresses of endorsers of a petition to local election commissions, a process some critics argue has been abused by listing ID numbers of people who are unaware their ID is being used.

The legislation was backed by opposition Kuomintang and Taiwan People's Party lawmakers, who hold a majority in the Legislature.

But the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government opposed the move, on the standard grounds that the amendments would be difficult to implement, and want the lawmaking to vote to reconsider it.

Executive Yuan Secretary-General Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) on Sunday afternoon delivered the request to reconsider the amendments to the Legislative Yuan, which was received by the staff on Monday morning, the first work day after the Lunar New Year holiday.

According to the Additional Articles of the Constitution, the Legislative Yuan should make a resolution on a motion for review sent by the Executive Yuan within 15 days of receiving it.

If the reconsideration request is not resolved within the time limit, the original resolution shall become invalid.

During the review, if more than half of all legislators (more than 57 lawmakers) resolve to maintain the original bill, the premier shall accept the resolution.