The Central Election Commission (CEC) should request the Council of Grand Justices to rule on whether recall campaigning restrictions are unconstitutional, Appendectomy Project campaigners said yesterday at a protest outside the commission’s offices in Taipei.
“We hope the CEC can go along with public opinion and accept the recommendation of the Taipei City Election Commission to send this case to the Grand Justices,” Appendectomy Project spokesman Lin Tzu-yi (林祖儀) said.
On Thursday, the Taipei commission granted activists a stay from an estimated NT$600,000 (US$18,308) in fines for violating the Election and Recall Act for Public Servants (公職人員選舉罷免法), recommending the CEC request the Grand Justices to rule on whether the law’s ban on recall campaigning violated freedom of speech.
Activists had handed out pamphlets and held marches and rallies as part of a failed effort to recall Chinese Nationalist Party Legislator Alex Tsai (蔡正元).
“The Taipei commission is in a difficult place because the law is still in place, but is highly controversial,” Lin said, adding that judicial intervention was necessary because amendments to drop the ban on recall campaigning have stalled in the Legislative Yuan.
Activists have criticized the ban, saying that it violates freedom of speech and the people’s “right to know” while making it nearly impossible to achieve the 50 percent voter turnout necessary for the recall result to be valid.
Taipei City Election Commission Deputy Director-General Huang Hsi-ming (黃細明) on Thursday criticized the ban for banning all campaign activity throughout the recall process regardless of time and place, unlike restrictions on campaigning on election days.
Lin said that while the recall campaigners were confident of a favorable ruling if the Grand Justices heard their case, they were concerned that the CEC would refuse to request a constitutional review.
Throughout recall efforts, the CEC had shown itself to be more “rigid” than the local Taipei commission, Lin said. He said that during recall efforts, it had also refused requests to outline what promotional measures would be legal, telling recall campaigners that a judgement could only be made after the fact on a “case-by-case” basis.
Independent legislative candidate Lin Shao-chi (林少馳) — a former Appendectomy Project volunteer — also called for the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act to be amended to drop turnout vote requirements, while also mandating an automatic recall vote to be held for all legislators two years after they are elected.
CEC Deputy Chairman Chen Wen-sheng (陳文生) said that the commission would hold a meeting to discuss the Taipei commission’s recommendation, adding that the commission itself had recommended the Legislative Yuan amend the law to drop the restrictions.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS