A recall campaign against Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Wu Yu-sheng (吳育昇) yesterday entered its second phase, during which the Constitution 133 Alliance would need to collect about 40,000 signatures from residents of New Taipei City’s (新北市) six districts for the recall proposal to pass.
“[Collecting signatures] will be difficult, and we have to deal with the questionable administrative procedure of the Central Election Commission, but we will fight to the very end,” award-winning writer Neil Peng (馮光遠), one of the campaign’s primary organizers, said in front of the commission’s headquarters, where he obtained a copy of the petition letter for the second phase.
The alliance submitted 6,000 signatures, representing 2 percent of the electorate, on Nov. 4 and another 1,400, required by the commission, on Dec. 2, Peng said.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
However, the commission appeared to have adopted a stalling strategy, taking the maximum of 25 days to review the first batch of signatures and another 25 days for the second batch, he added.
“We suspect that it was a strategy to drag the second phase into the Lunar New Year break, which would make it more difficult for the alliance to collect signatures,” Peng said.
The 30-day second phase was reported to begin today and conclude on Feb. 1, the third day of the six-day Lunar New Year break.
Lin Feng-jeng (林峰正), former executive director of the Judicial Reform Foundation, said the alliance would mobilize all the volunteers it can to scour the constituency’s six districts — Sanjhih (三芝), Shihmen (石門), Tamsui (淡水), Bali (八里), Linkou (林口) and Taishan (泰山) — to collect signatures from the required 13 percent of the electorate.
The alliance initiated the campaign to recall the lawmaker, who it said was committed to partisan voting and ignored public opinion in the legislature.
The campaign was nicknamed the “BMW Movement,” short for bamian Wu (罷免吳) — meaning “recall Wu” in Chinese.
Taipei has once again made it to the top 100 in Oxford Economics’ Global Cities Index 2025 report, moving up five places from last year to 60. The annual index, which was published last month, evaluated 1,000 of the most populated metropolises based on five indices — economics, human capital, quality of life, environment and governance. New York maintained its top spot this year, placing first in the economics index thanks to the strength of its vibrant financial industry and economic stability. Taipei ranked 263rd in economics, 44th in human capital, 15th in quality of life, 284th for environment and 75th in governance,
The Sports Administration yesterday demanded an apology from the national table tennis association for barring 17-year-old Yeh Yi-tian (葉伊恬) from competing in the upcoming World Table Tennis (WTT) United States Smash tournament in Las Vegas this July. The sports agency said in a statement that the Chinese Taipei Table Tennis Association (CTTTA) must explain to the public why it withdrew Yeh from the WTT tournament in Las Vegas. The sports agency said it contacted the association to express its disapproval of the decision-making process after receiving a complaint from Yeh’s coach, Chuang
Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) tendered his resignation last night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by media. His resignation was immediately accepted by the Control Yuan. In a statement explaining why he had resigned, Lee apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon on May 20. The issue first came to light late last month, when TVBS News reported that Lee had instructed his driver to take the dog to the salon. The news channel broadcast photos that it said were taken by an unnamed whistle-blower, which purportedly showed the
A former officer in China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) who witnessed the aftermath of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre has warned that Taiwan could face a similar fate if China attempts to unify the country by force. Li Xiaoming (李曉明), who was deployed to Beijing as a junior officer during the crackdown, said Taiwanese people should study the massacre carefully, because it offers a glimpse of what Beijing is willing to do to suppress dissent. “What happened in Tiananmen Square could happen in Taiwan too,” Li told CNA in a May 22 interview, ahead of the massacre’s 36th anniversary. “If Taiwanese students or