7 indicted in Keelung recall petition forgery case

Taipei, July 11 (CNA) Prosecutors on Friday indicted seven individuals in Keelung for allegedly forging over 1,000 signatures in an attempt to recall two Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) city councilors.

According to the Keelung District Prosecutors Office, former Kuomintang (KMT) city branch head Wu Kuo-sheng (吳國勝) and former Keelung Civil Affairs Director Chang Yuan-hsiang (張淵翔) were key figures in the scheme.

The case highlights serious breaches of public trust and civil service neutrality, prosecutors said in a press release.

The scheme involved copying the personal information from local party membership rolls -- such as names, birth dates, ID numbers, and addresses -- without the consent of 1,036 people listed on the petitions, prosecutors said.

This violated the Criminal Code, the Public Officials Election and Recall Act, and the Taiwan Personal Data Protection Act, prosecutors added.

Chang was also accused of abusing his official access to the household registration system to verify petition data and ensure the petitions with forged signatures would meet the legal threshold for a recall vote.

The indictments follow a monthslong investigation into failed recall attempts against DPP councilors Cheng Wen-ting (鄭文婷) and Jiho Tiun (張之豪).

In January 2025, KMT leadership launched a "recall to counter recall" strategy targeting DPP members in retaliation for recall efforts against KMT lawmakers.

In March, an initial pair of petitions containing the roughly 300 signatures, or 1 percent of registered voters, needed to clear the first stage of the recall process were rejected by election officials due to "considerable irregularities."

According to prosecutors, Chang organized a meeting at KMT offices that same month where he instructed staff on how to forge signatures with "correct formatting" onto a new set of petitions.

However, prosecutors said that multiple signatures on the second set of petitions had been added without their knowledge or consent of those listed.

The investigation began in April, when prosecutors searched KMT offices and the homes of recall organizers across northern Taiwan.

Of the seven indicted, five are set to stand trial for forgery, illegal data use, and recall law violations, while two Keelung household registration officials face charges related to improper data access.

Authorities said that eight others involved in copying forged signatures were granted deferred prosecution