A recall vote against New Power Party (NPP) Executive Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) was defeated yesterday after the number of ballots cast by Huang’s detractors in New Taipei City’s 12th electoral district failed to pass the threshold for removing him as lawmaker.
Statistics released by the New Taipei City Election Commission showed that 48,693 constituents voted in favor of recalling Huang, while less than half that number — 21,748 — voted against it, and 483 cast null votes, with a voter turnout of 27.75 percent.
Under the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法), one-fourth of the 255,551 constituents in the electoral district — in this case comprised of Sijhih (汐止), Jinshan (金山), Wanli (萬里), Rueifang (瑞芳), Pingsi (平溪), Shuangsi (雙溪) and Gongliao (貢寮) districts — must vote for the recall of a legislator, and the number of people who vote “yes” must surpass the number of people who vote “no.”
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
Huang’s detractors needed to cast at least 63,888 “yes” votes.
Asked to respond to comments from the Greater Taipei Stability Power Alliance that he was a “politician who survived thanks to the rain,” Huang said that he would listen with humility to all criticism.
Huang held a news conference at his Sijhih headquarters shortly after all 240 polling stations closed to thank everyone who voted “no” for keeping faith in the NPP’s vision of reform and pursuit of progressive values.
He also thanked those who voted “yes,” saying that it gave him motivation for introspection, adding that he would continue to welcome their criticism and supervision.
Although the recall failed, Huang said the large number of votes to recall him indicated that he had not worked hard enough to encourage his supporters to vote.
“I understand how you must feel right now, but I want to tell you that the vision of reform and progressive values we hold are right,” he said.
“What is the kind of future we want? We must take this question seriously. Is this a nation teeming with hope, ideals and progressive values, or is it a place where people must continue to live in darkness and fear?” he said.
He would continue to support removing the threshold for recalling public officers as he did last year, Huang said.
“The NPP will never change its stance on realizing direct democracy,” he said.
Meanwhile, Stability Power Alliance chairman Sun Chi-cheng (孫繼正), who initiated the vote, attributed the failure to his lack of hard work and apologized to the alliance’s supporters for his failure to “translate mainstream opinion.”
The recall drive was a “caution” to all lawmakers that they would be ousted if they refuse to communicate with voters, Sun said, adding that from that point of view the drive could be deemed successful.
Unite for a Good Lawmaker founder Yu Chung-cheng (余忠正) said he was not surprised by the outcome of the poll, as Sun has been maneuvering for more than a year, while the Huang camp only started raising awareness about the recall after it passed the initiation threshold in May.
However, he said that Constitutional Interpretation No. 748 handed down by the Council of Grand Justices in May declared that same-sex marriage is a constitutional right and that the large number of people who voted to depose Huang over his support for legalizing same-sex marriage suggested that Taiwanese still have a long way to go before they can truly embrace progressive values.
A signaling system malfunction disrupted high-speed rail (HSR) services beginning at 8am today, with trains temporarily reduced to three northbound and three southbound trains per hour as authorities conduct inspections. The malfunction occurred on a section of track in Miaoli County during pre-operation checks early this morning, forcing northbound and southbound trains to use a single track, the HSR operator said. The regular schedule has been replaced with three hourly trains offering only nonreserved seating in each direction, stopping at every station, it said, adding that business class cars would still have reserved seating. Departures from terminal stations are scheduled at the top
DRONE CENTRAL: Taiwan aims to become Asia’s democratic hub for drones, with most exports focused on high-quality military-grade models, an official said Taiwan’s drone industry is expected to expand significantly by 2030, producing 100,000 units per month and exporting half of them, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Current drone production capacity is about 15,000 units per month, but the industry can quickly scale up as demand increases, Industrial Development Administration Director-General Chiou Chyou-huey (邱求慧) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s drone output grew 2.5-fold last year to NT$12.9 billion (US$408.3 million) under a government program to develop the uncrewed vehicle sector, he said. The Executive Yuan in October last year approved plans to invest NT$44.2 billion into domestic production of uncrewed aerial
VERBOSE VESSELS: A CGA cutter and a China Coast Guard exchanged verbal barbs for more than a day in Taiwanese-controlled waters before the Chinese vessel left The Taiwanese and Chinese coast guards had a standoff near the strategically located Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the north of the South China Sea, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The two sides engaged in intense radio exchanges over sovereignty claims during the 33-hour standoff. China Coast Guard vessel 3501 eventually left the restricted waters, 26.6 nautical miles (49.2km) west of the Pratas Islands, at 5pm yesterday, the CGA said. Lying approximately between southern Taiwan and Hong Kong, the Taiwan-controlled Pratas are seen by some security experts as vulnerable to Chinese attack due to their distance — more than
WARNING: China should stop engaging in actions that undermine regional peace and stability, as it would only build resentment among people across the Strait, the CGA said China has deployed more than 100 navy, coast guard and other vessels in waters from the Yellow Sea to the South China Sea and the western Pacific since US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) met in Beijing, National Security Council Secretary-General Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said yesterday. “In this part of the world, #China is the one & only PROBLEM wrecking the #StatusQuo & threatening regional peace & stability,” Wu wrote on X. In a separate post, he said Beijing was coercing Taiwan’s maritime domain, calling it illegal and provocative, after the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) expelled a
RSS