Following the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) failure to prevent the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)-led legislature from railroading through contentions amendments to the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法), the next political storm that awaits involves a series of actions that have been taken by the opposition party to prevent the government from lifting an import ban on Japanese foods manufactured in prefectures affected by the meltdown at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant.
On Thursday last week, KMT Vice Chairman Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌), the KMT caucus and civic organizations vowed to initiate a referendum on relaxing the ban in what Hau called a mission to “stop the addle-brained government.”
His plan is to hold dozens of events across the nation to solicit signatures to meet the threshold of nearly 94,000 required to launch a referendum proposal.
According to the Referendum Act (公民投票法), a proposal requires a signature total of no less than 0.5 percent of the number of voters in the last presidential election. After the proposal is reviewed, the second stage is to gather signatures from 5 percent of voters for a referendum to be set up.
As the number of eligible voters at the Jan. 16 presidential and legislative elections was 18,782,991, Hau needs about 94,000 signatures, a goal the former Taipei mayor says he could achieve within 30 days.
Meanwhile, KMT Chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) has been working on her own agenda: initiating a recall campaign against DPP lawmakers who support easing the import ban.
She also reportedly plans to mobilize tens of thousands of KMT supporters to surround three public hearings on the issue organized by the Executive Yuan for Dec. 25, Jan. 2 and Jan. 8.
On the surface, the two KMT heavyweights’ measures against the perceived inclination of the administration of President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) to lift the ban and remove one of the major obstacles in the way of closer Taipei-Tokyo ties will no doubt stir up chaos in the political arena and undermine public support for the DPP regime.
However, the uncoordinated actions by the pair indicate that their motives are not designed to discredit the Tsai administration, something that would merely be an added bonus, but rather to drum up support for themselves in next year’s KMT chairperson election.
The KMT’s infighting has never ceased and the party’s pro-localization faction has never stopped seizing opportunities to undercut support for and the legitimacy of Hung, whose radical China policies and conservative leadership style have irritated many.
So far, the battle seems to be tilting in Hau’s favor, given that he has secured the support of the KMT caucus. If he collects the 94,000 signatures, that could add legitimacy to his potential chairmanship bid, because it would indicate that he has the support of the people.
On the other hand, efforts to recall lawmakers might not be as easy as Hung thinks and might not boost the KMT’s momentum as she expects.
Although amendments to the Civil Servants Election And Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法) passed last month lowered thresholds, a recall petition still requires signatures from 1 percent of voters within the target’s constituency to be considered, before signatures from 10 percent are needed for it to proceed.
Even if Hung succeeds in collecting the signatures needed to recall a DPP legislator, the momentum it could galvanize is more regional than national.
In addition, as another potential KMT chairperson candidate in the pro-localization camp — former vice president Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) — seems to have stepped out of the game, given his lack of action regarding the import situation, Hung might soon find herself facing a single, powerful opponent and losing the race before it has even begun.
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