Legislature votes to uphold bill tightening recall petition rules

Taipei, Feb. 11 (CNA) Lawmakers on Tuesday upheld legislation that tightened requirements for petitions used to initiate a recall of an elected official, effectively blocking the Cabinet's attempt to overturn the measures.

In a meeting on the legislative floor, lawmakers from the opposition parties, who together hold a majority in the Legislature, once again endorsed the amendments to the Public Officials Election And Recall Act passed last December.

The 60-51 vote in the 113-seat legislature broke along partisan lines, with two abstentions.

The revisions, which the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government has contended would "exceedingly restrict" the public's right to recall an elected official and "significantly increase the burden" of local electoral authorities, now await the president's signature to become law.

Speaking in their defense, Wu Tsung-hsien (吳宗憲), a lawmaker from the main opposition Kuomintang (KMT), said ahead of the revote requested by the Cabinet that the updated measures would ensure a "more rigorous and fairer" recall petition process.

Meanwhile, KMT legislator Weng Hsiao-ling (翁曉玲) argued that, contrary to the government's assertions, the tightened petition rules would actually facilitate electoral authorities' vetting of petition signatures.

Tuesday's result marked the third time that the Cabinet has failed to overturn legislation passed by the current Legislature it deemed "difficult to implement" through a revote by lawmakers.

The previous attempts involved legislation that raised the thresholds for Constitutional Court rulings and measures aimed at granting the Legislature broader investigative powers.

The revote took place a day after President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) held talks with the heads of the five branches of government -- the Executive Yuan, the Legislative Yuan, the Judicial Yuan, the Examination Yuan and the Control Yuan.

During the meeting, the heads of the government branches agreed to establish a communication platform, but it remains to be seen whether such a mechanism will be effective in resolving the disagreements between the ruling and opposition parties.

Recent tensions between the two sides have extended to judicial disputes and spilled over into the public sphere, with DPP members supporting initiatives to recall KMT lawmakers and the KMT retaliating by launching similar efforts.

According to the Central Election Commission, campaigners have submitted initial recall petitions for 31 KMT lawmakers and 13 DPP lawmakers to date.

The amendments to the Public Officials Election and Recall Act, adopted on Dec. 20, 2024, were proposed by KMT lawmakers and backed by their counterparts from the Taiwan People's Party (TPP).

The revisions would require individuals initiating a recall petition and those who sign up for such an initiative to provide photocopies of their identification cards when submitting their petition signatures.

At present, campaigners only have to present the ID numbers and registered addresses of endorsers of the recall petition to local election commissions.