Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) New Taipei City councilors yesterday vowed to initiate a recall motion against New Taipei City Mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫) should he replace Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) as the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate without resigning his post.
A KMT Central Standing Committee meeting yesterday decided that an extempore party congress is to be held to review Hung’s candidacy and the likelihood is Chu, who doubles as KMT chairman, will replace her as the party’s candidate.
DPP New Taipei City councilors Ho Po-wen (何博文) and Chang Hung-jen (張宏仁) issued a statement saying: “No to resignation means yes to recall.”
Ho said that piles of budgetary papers bearing Chu’s signature had been sent to city councilors in preparation for the city’s annual budget review, proving that Chu still has a duty to New Taipei City residents.
“The many responsibilities of running a city does not allow Chu to run a [presential] campaign at the same time,” Ho said.
Chang said that the mayor has “failed the residents of New Taipei City” as he has not spared a thought for them.
He added that Chu’s approval rating had dropped to the bottom among the nation’s six special municipality mayors since he became KMT chairman.
“Now [Chu] wants to juggle a third task?” Chang said.
He said that if Chu wants to run for president, he should apologize to city residents by resigning.
Although a mayoral recall election can only be held one year after the office-holder’s inauguration, the councilors said they would begin proceedings to recall Chu on the same day he announces his presidential bid so that the recall petition can be ready for submission on Dec. 25 — the first anniversary of Chu’s mayoral inauguration.
The city has 3,182,745 eligible voters, which means that a recall petition must be signed by 63,655 people to meet the more than 2 percent of voters requirement for it to be valid, Ho said.
To launch a referendum to recall the mayor, the petition must have the support of more than 13 percent of all eligible voters, or 413,757 signatories, within 30 days of its submission, Ho said.
For a recall to be successful, more than half of the city’s eligible voters, or 1,591,373, must take part in the elction, with a majority of the votes cast in favor of a recall, Ho said.
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