Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Alex Tsai (蔡正元) yesterday survived a landmark recall referendum in his constituency — Taipei’s Neihu (內湖) and Nangang (南港) districts — because the poll failed to attain the required 50 percent voter turnout.
However, Tsai did not emerge unscathed, as an overwhelming majority of the 79,303 votes cast — marking turnout at 24.98 percent — supported the recall.
The Central Election Commission said that 76,737, or 97.22 percent, of the votes cast were in favor of ousting Tsai, while 2,196 people, or 2.78 percent, voted for him to stay. Just 370 votes were invalid.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
Given that there are 317,434 eligible voters in Tsai’s constituency, 158,717 voters were required to vote for the results to be valid.
The poll was the first recall in the nation since referendums in 1994 and 1995, when environmental activists failed to dislodge five KMT legislators over their support for a nuclear power plant.
The turnout threshold for referendums was raised from one-third to 50 percent by the legislature just months before the 1994 ballot, in a move widely seen as an attempt to prevent KMT legislators from losing their posts.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
The Appendectomy Project’s campaign was bolstered by scores of volunteers over its 10-month span. It ran two successful petitions last year.
At polling stations yesterday, a wide range of voters expressed their excitement that the recall election had been realized.
“I am very happy and excited because I am witnessing history — this is the first time we have been able to vote in a recall election,” said Victor Chen (陳立揚), a student at National Chiao Tung University, who returned from Hsinchu to vote.
“I am here today as a citizen to participate in the exercise of my power to recall,” a middle-aged woman surnamed Chiu (邱) said. “I think it is great that young people have been able to demonstrate that we have this power, and I want to encourage their efforts.”
Of three campaigns launched by the Appendectomy Project, the one targeting Tsai was the only one to reach its final phase, as petitions to recall KMT legislators Wu Yu-sheng (吳育昇) and Lin Hung-chih (林鴻池) both failed to draw support from at least 13 percent of voters from their respective constituencies.
Several hundred people trickled into the Appendectomy Project’s headquarters in Neihu yesterday evening to offer their support.
They said the campaign’s failure highlighted the need for a major overhaul of recall regulations, adding that the “largely unattainable” thresholds for voter turnout and the 30-day limit for petitions blocked voters from exercising their rights.
Appendectomy Project spokesman Lin Tzu-i (林祖儀) said the results indicated the failure of regulations, not the failure of the campaign and its more than 3,000 volunteers.
Lin said the group would continue campaigning for reform of the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act (公務人員選舉罷免法), and announced the group’s commitment to long-term efforts to promote direct democracy.
“Alex Tsai might be the archvillain now, but there are countless Alex Tsais out there,” Lin said.
Tsai called the results of the recall referendum “a great victory of democracy and rule of law.”
He added that the recall was initiated by a “political scam gang and professional students” and was “utterly despised by the public.”
“The number of votes cast was not even on par with those received by my opponents in the past election, which is a total embarrassment [to campaigners],” he added.
When asked by reporters about the recall threshold, Tsai said people might have different views.
He added that the number of votes to recall an official should have to top the number cast to elect them.
“That would require at least 120,000 votes to recall me,” he said.
Additional reporting by Alison Hsiao and Abraham Gerber
CARROT AND STICK: While unrelenting in its military threats, China attracted nearly 40,000 Taiwanese to over 400 business events last year Nearly 40,000 Taiwanese last year joined industry events in China, such as conferences and trade fairs, supported by the Chinese government, a study showed yesterday, as Beijing ramps up a charm offensive toward Taipei alongside military pressure. China has long taken a carrot-and-stick approach to Taiwan, threatening it with the prospect of military action while reaching out to those it believes are amenable to Beijing’s point of view. Taiwanese security officials are wary of what they see as Beijing’s influence campaigns to sway public opinion after Taipei and Beijing gradually resumed travel links halted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the scale of
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
Pope Francis is be laid to rest on Saturday after lying in state for three days in St Peter’s Basilica, where the faithful are expected to flock to pay their respects to history’s first Latin American pontiff. The cardinals met yesterday in the Vatican’s synod hall to chart the next steps before a conclave begins to choose Francis’ successor, as condolences poured in from around the world. According to current norms, the conclave must begin between May 5 and 10. The cardinals set the funeral for Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square, to be celebrated by the dean of the College
CROSS-STRAIT: The vast majority of Taiwanese support maintaining the ‘status quo,’ while concern is rising about Beijing’s influence operations More than eight out of 10 Taiwanese reject Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework for cross-strait relations, according to a survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday. The MAC’s latest quarterly survey found that 84.4 percent of respondents opposed Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula for handling cross-strait relations — a figure consistent with past polling. Over the past three years, opposition to the framework has remained high, ranging from a low of 83.6 percent in April 2023 to a peak of 89.6 percent in April last year. In the most recent poll, 82.5 percent also rejected China’s