11 KMT members indicted in Chiayi City for recall petition forgery

Taipei, Jan. 26 (CNA) The Chiayi District Prosecutors Office on Monday indicted 11 members of the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) for forging more than 1,900 signatures on a petition to recall ruling Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Wang Mei-hui (王美惠).

Chang Chia-ming (張嘉銘), secretary-general of the KMT's Chiayi City branch and 10 others from the branch, were charged with forgery and illegal use of personal data, according to a news release by the office.

Meanwhile, two volunteers were given deferred prosecution for one year and required to pay a NT$50,000 (US$1,590) fine.

The initiator of the recall petition, surnamed Chen (陳), was not indicted, according to the release.

The suspects are alleged to have logged into the KMT party member database and downloaded personal information of party members registered in Chiayi City in January 2025, prosecutors said.

On Jan. 24, Chang convened a meeting with party branch officials, during which party member data and recall petition forms were distributed. The attendees then allegedly forged the signatures of party members.

Chen, unaware of the forgery, subsequently submitted 2,505 recall petitions to the Central Election Commission, exceeding the required threshold of 2,159 signatures.

The case came to light after family members of a deceased individual reported to prosecutors that the person's personal information had been misused. Several other party members later came forward with similar complaints, prosecutors said.

Further investigation found that handwriting on approximately 1,900 petition forms matched that of the indicted individuals, they added.