President Lai promulgates amended law tightening recall petition rules

Taipei, Feb. 18 (CNA) President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) on Tuesday promulgated amended legislation that tightens requirements for petitions used to initiate the recall of elected officials after the Legislative Yuan upheld the legislation following a re-vote requested by the Cabinet last week.

Per Taiwanese law, the amendments will take effect three days after the promulgation.

With the promulgation of the amendments to the Public Officials Election And Recall Act passed in December, Wu Szu-yao (吳思瑤), secretary-general of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislative caucus, said the party will follow the Constitution of the Republic of China (Taiwan) to seek a remedy.

The DPP government is preparing to petition the Constitutional Court to rule on the constitutionality of the amended law, Wu added.

However, she failed to explain how the DPP government would seek such a ruling from the Constitutional Court.

The newly amended Constitutional Court Procedure Act mandates that a minimum of 10 justices hear and rule on a case, with an unconstitutional ruling to be supported by at least nine justices. Currently, the court has only eight Grand Justices as the Legislative Yuan has declined to approve a new slate of judicial nominations presented by Lai in December.

The DPP government has argued that the amended Public Officials Election And Recall Act would "exceedingly restrict" the public's right to recall elected officials and "significantly increase the burden" of local electoral authorities.

The amendments to the Act, proposed by main opposition Kuomintang (KMT) lawmakers and backed by their counterparts from the smaller opposition Taiwan People's Party (TPP), were passed in the Legislature by a majority of lawmakers.

The newly amended law requires individuals initiating a recall petition and those who sign up to such an initiative to provide photocopies of their identification cards when submitting their petition signatures.

In the past, campaigners only had to present the ID numbers and registered addresses of those endorsing a recall petition to local election commissions, a process critics argued has been abused.

The new law also includes punitive measures, stipulating that any individuals found guilty of using someone else's identification or forging an ID for a recall petition may face up to five years in prison or a fine of up to NT$1 million (US$30,520).

After the revisions were passed by the Legislative Yuan on Dec. 20, the Cabinet requested the legislature re-vote on the amendments based on the provisions of the Constitution, saying the legislation would be difficult to execute.

However, the Legislative Yuan voted on Feb. 11 to uphold the new legislation and sent the legislation to the Presidential Office a day later, paving the path to its promulgation by Lai on Tuesday.