KMT claims recall vote petitions contain forgeries

Taipei, June 21 (CNA) The opposition Kuomintang (KMT) on Saturday urged the Central Election Commission (CEC) to file criminal complaints over what it said were large numbers of forged signatures in the second-stage petitions for recall votes targeting its lawmakers.

The KMT challenged the CEC's review results announced Friday, warning that the commission would be negligent if it failed to take legal action against those behind what the party described as questionable signatures.

The CEC should refer the matter to prosecutors, the KMT added.

Citing CEC data, KMT lawmaker Weng Hsiao-ling (翁曉玲) said recall campaigns against 31 KMT lawmakers included 157,226 problematic signatures -- many from deceased individuals or signatures that overlapped heavily with those collected during the first stage of the process.

Prosecutors should investigate whether the signatures were personally signed, she added.

A total of 24 KMT lawmakers and suspended Hsinchu Mayor Ann Kao (高虹安), formerly of the Taiwan People's Party (TPP), are scheduled to face recall votes on July 26, the CEC announced Friday.

In response, the CEC said that any signatures found to have been submitted by individuals who died before the date of signing, or those suspected of being forged, would be reported to judicial authorities in accordance with the law and standard procedures.

Duplicate signatures are excluded as required by law, but are not considered forgeries and therefore do not fall under the scope of criminal referral, it added.

Meanwhile, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲) and Wang Ting-yu (王定宇) argued that duplicate signatures should not be equated with forged ones, referencing earlier failed recall attempts against DPP lawmakers.