Taiwan election body to decide June 20 on KMT lawmaker recall votes

Taipei, June 7 (CNA) Taiwan's Central Election Commission (CEC) will hold a meeting on June 20 to determine whether recall campaigns targeting dozens of opposition Kuomintang (KMT) lawmakers will proceed to public votes.

In a brief statement issued Saturday, the CEC said local election authorities were still verifying second-stage petition signatures for the recall initiatives targeting 31 KMT lawmakers, including Fu Kun-chi (傅崐萁), Wang Hung-wei (王鴻薇), Hsu Chiao-hsin (許巧芯) and Lo Ming-tsai (羅明才).

The commission said it expects to announce the results of some of the proposals after the June 20 committee meeting.

A CEC official later told CNA that the commission cannot yet confirm how many recall cases will be decided that day, as the verification process by local election bodies is still ongoing.

Under Taiwan's election laws, once a recall initiative passes the second stage, a vote must be held within 20 to 60 days following the CEC's official confirmation.

According to the commission, recall bids have been launched against 50 lawmakers -- 35 from the KMT and 15 from the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) -- along with Hsinchu Mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) and eight county and city councilors.

To pass the first stage, petitioners must collect signatures from at least 1 percent of eligible voters in a constituency. For the second stage, that threshold rises to 10 percent.

As of Saturday, the CEC ruled that four petitions targeting KMT lawmakers had failed to gather enough valid second-stage signatures to proceed.

Meanwhile, most recall proposals targeting DPP lawmakers either failed to gather enough signatures for the second stage before the 60-day deadline or are still ongoing. Seven campaigns remain within their signature collection windows.