Kaohsiung is preparing to hold a vote to recall Kaohsiung City Councilor Huang Jie (黃捷) on Feb. 6. For Kaohsiung residents, this is disastrous.
During the recall of then-Kaohsiung mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) earlier this year, the tension and conflict in the city were beyond what outsiders could imagine. Regardless of whether the recall’s outcome satisfied all, it set off a wave of recall motions.
A source of frustration for most Kaohsiung residents is that recalls are targeting politicians because of their role in proposing prior recalls — something that has become an apparently unavoidable countermeasure.
Term limits are used instead of recall votes for elected representatives in the world’s developed countries. People who do not like the official elected this time can simply vote for someone else next time. There is no need to waste public resources on a recall vote. Besides, politicians have turned recall votes into retaliatory weapons to attack those with different views — rendering the recall system meaningless.
Initially, the reasons for holding a recall vote might sound reasonable, but a closer look shows that they are mostly without substance. When broadly interpreted, nearly every elected representative could be targeted by a recall motion as long as someone is willing to initiate the petition.
Obviously, such low standards are nothing but political bullying. As well, most people do not pay attention to the details of a recall motion, meaning that recalls have degenerated into a tool for manipulation by a minority.
In a multi-member district system such as Taiwan’s city councilor elections, a winning candidate’s votes do not make up very much of the total number, so a city councilor has a support base in part of an electoral district and might be unknown by a majority of the district’s voters.
However, during the recall process, a few people can spread negative information about the target of the recall, which could affect a lot of voters during a recall procedure. As it is not convenient for targeted politicians to openly defend themselves, the fairness of the recall system comes into question.
After several recall procedures, it is time to consider abolishing the recall system. One of the main reasons is that a small number of people are using the recall to take political revenge on opponents, triggering public confrontations.
Even more frightening is that, even if a recall motion fails, it hurts the image of the targeted politician, possibly blocking them from future public service.
A recall motion can be positive for the person proposing it, not causing them any harm, while the negative effects on society far outweigh the positives. In particular, many political radicals could use a recall as a means to intervene in politics.
Li Kuan-long is a lecturer at Shih Chien University’s Kaohsiung campus.
Translated by Eddy Chang
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