The Taichung District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday detained two staff members of the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) Taichung chapter on suspicion of forging signatures in recall campaigns targeting Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators. The arrests followed a search of the chapter’s office and questioning of more than a dozen people.
The detentions came just days after prosecutors in Keelung launched a similar investigation, searching the KMT’s local chapter office on Monday over similar allegations of using fraudulent signatures in recall petitions against DPP city councilors.
Keelung Department of Civil Affairs Director Chang Yuan-hsiang (張淵翔) resigned on Tuesday after admitting in court to contravening personal data protection laws and committing document forgery. He was suspected of using public household registration data to support the recall efforts.
The raids in Taichung and Keelung are the latest in a series of nationwide actions by prosecutors over the past few weeks, most of which have concerned KMT-affiliated recall campaigns against DPP lawmakers. The Central Election Commission has flagged an unusually high number of suspected forged or “ghost” signatures — entries bearing the names of deceased people — in several KMT petitions.
KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) on April 17 led a seemingly illegal protest in front of the Taipei prosecutors’ office after the party’s office in the city was searched and its director detained for alleged involvement in signature forgery. A week later, Chu led a large rally in Taipei accusing President William Lai (賴清德) of “political persecution” and declaring the need to “fight dictatorship.”
Despite multiple investigations across the country, the KMT has yet to provide any explanation or apology for the widespread irregularities.
Instead of addressing the allegations directly, the KMT has accused the judiciary of being “manipulated by the DPP as a tool for political persecution.” The party has framed itself as a victim, seeking to stir public sympathy and distract attention from the irregularities to save its lawmakers.
Escalating his rhetoric, Chu said the DPP is “more communist than the communists” and likened Lai to Adolf Hitler, claiming Lai seeks to “eliminate dissidents” and the DPP is weaponizing the judiciary to intimidate and suppress the public. Chu also called for a recall campaign against Lai and urged the removal of “Green Guards,” likening DPP lawmakers to China’s Red Guards during the Cultural Revolution.
Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) — who has the highest approval rating among KMT officials in polls — on Saturday attempted to downplay the forgery issue, saying the recall petitions could continue unimpeded by simply removing all “invalid signatures.” Lu also criticized the judiciary, saying it had “gone too far” and should instead focus on fighting fraud, ignoring that forgery is itself a form of fraud.
The rhetoric and actions of senior KMT officials suggest a growing sense of desperation within the party. Their strategy increasingly mirrors that of the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) when its founding chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) faced criminal charges last year — staging dramatic, illegal protests outside prosecutors’ offices and deliberately undermining public trust in the judiciary.
As of Saturday, 20 out of 35 recall campaigns targeting KMT legislators have surpassed the second-phase signature thresholds. Chu’s decision to bind the party with the TPP might prove risky, as multiple polls show that the TPP’s approval ratings continue to decline despite its populist appeals to victimhood.
If the KMT truly wants to save its lawmakers, it might need to reassess its approach — prioritizing humility, accountability and a willingness to listen to public sentiment, rather than continuing to portray itself as a victim, a narrative that has thus far failed to convince.
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