The first phase of a recall movement launched early this month, beginning with petitions against 18 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators and suspended Hsinchu mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) delivered to the Central Election Commission (CEC) for approval. The first phase required signatures from more than 1 percent of a constituency’s voters to formally start each recall process. The hurdles for the second phase are much higher, requiring 10 percent of a constituency’s voters to sign the petition within 60 days.
Forty-one KMT lawmakers could be recalled, but to stop the KMT’s and Taiwan People’s Party’s (TPP) destruction of the Constitution and the hobbling of the government, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) would need to elect a minimum of eight DPP candidates to gain a legislative majority.
Advancing a recall petition does not automatically remove a politician from office. After a successful recall, a district would have to hold a by-election. Electing new DPP or DPP-friendly legislators to those districts is not a foregone conclusion, so it is safer to recall as many KMT legislators as possible.
The majority of petition-signers in the first phase sought out signature-gathering stations. In the second phase, apart from self-motivated voters, volunteers need to appeal to fellow voters who still require some convincing. Although more than 10 percent of voter signatures are required for the second phase, the effort needed to collect that number is far more than 10 percent. The second phase requires a huge number of volunteers and even greater resources to broaden the electorate’s direct and indirect participation.
Taiwan’s most successful recall was the 2020 recall of Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) when he was Kaohsiung mayor. The four advocates who initiated that recall offer six key lessons that should be remembered.
Among them is to “not only fight in the air, but in the streets,” or, in other words — bring recall elections to every corner of Taiwan, particularly areas that are favorable to politicians facing recalls, and to convince voters to sign on.
Recalls also require nonstop publicity. The KMT lawmakers targeted for recall might each face different circumstances, but one commonality is that they seem to lack a sense of right and wrong; they blindly follow KMT caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅?萁), who in turn follows the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). People must closely observe changes in the situation during this and other recalls, adjust their strategies and — when necessary — concentrate on overcoming the most difficult and most promising challenges.
With the recall tide swelling, the KMT and its proxies are being forced to respond. One talking point they use is that “those who are in charge should not make waves,” which Xiamen Taiwanese Business Association vice chairman Yeh Yung-sung (葉永松) shouted at President William Lai (賴清德) at a Straits Exchange Foundation event on Feb. 3.
The statement was bizarre. The DPP does not hold a legislative majority. It is the KMT and TPP that are causing problems and paralyzing the executive and judicial branches of government.
Civic groups are not creating problems — they are using their constitutional rights to fight back and expel KMT and TPP troublemakers who used fraudulent tactics to get elected. Yeh was forced to put on his most convincing performance for the CCP to protect his own interests in China.
Another talking point pan-blue camp supporters use is “put aside politics and put the people first.” Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) and Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) used that talking point after a massive citizen outpouring to deliver recall petitions to the CEC.
Curiously, neither Chiang nor Lu expressed such sentiments when KMT and TPP lawmakers cut or froze parts of the central government’s budget. It was only after the public came out to protect the budget that Chiang and Yen cast blame on the DPP for the opposition parties’ actions.
On Jan. 21, using their combined majority, the KMT and TPP cut the budget by NT$207.5 billion (US$6.33 billion) — or 6.6 percent — including freezes on items such as electricity subsidies for Taiwan Power Co and vaccination subsidies for the Ministry of Health and Welfare, cuts to the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Culture, and cuts to the Ministry of Digital Affairs’ fraud-fighting budget.
Prior to this, even policing and firefighting budgets were slated for cuts or cancelations. KMT caucus deputy secretary-general Wang Hung-wei (王鴻薇) even attempted to lump them in with defense spending, saying that police and firefighter visors and helmets should be considered “military equipment,” exposing her stance of advocating the surrender of the country without a fight. After much ridicule, she made a “clarification” and withdrew her proposal.
Still, KMT legislators cut and froze parts of the defense budget anyway, endangering the country. The cuts are yet another signal to Beijing that the KMT and TPP would do anything in their power to carry out the CCP’s mission. They do not hesitate to ignore the US government’s insistence that Taiwan spend more on national defense.
Lai and Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) have met Han multiple times to discuss legislation. As Han is still secretly smarting from his recall, he has contributed nothing substantial apart from a few words here and there. The DPP’s doors to deliberation have always been wide open. We only need to see whether the KMT and TPP are willing to negotiate in good faith.
Paul Lin is a Taipei-based political commentator.
Translated by Tim Smith
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