The legislature today passed the third reading on amendments to the Public Officials Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法) after physical clashes erupted in the legislative chamber this morning between ruling and opposition party legislators.
The amendments to the act require signatories of recall petitions to submit a copy of their ID card, while anyone who fraudulently uses another person’s identity to take part in a recall petition shall be sentenced to imprisonment for up to five years and/or a fine of up to NT$1,000,000 (US$30,576).
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) does not even care to put on a show, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus chief executive Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) said, adding that the KMT lawmakers had taken away the public’s power to recall officials because they are afraid to be recalled.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
Wu said the DPP was silenced during the deliberation process and did not have the chance to properly discuss the proposed amendments.
The plenary meeting today handled five articles of the act, Wu said, and 40 DPP lawmakers registered to speak about the articles.
The KMT caucus proposed that the discussion be halted after Wu made a speech, only allowing one DPP lawmaker to speak.
“No discussion, no democracy!” DDP lawmakers chanted as some of them threw water bottles at the speaker’s podium which were blocked by KMT lawmakers with acrylic boards.
Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), who was escorted into the chamber by KMT legislators after physical clashes erupted earlier this morning, conducted a vote by show of hands in accordance with Article 35 of the Legislative Yuan’s procedures (立法院議事規則).
Despite the DPP opposing the vote by various means, the third reading on the amendments of the act was passed as the KMT and the Taiwan People’s Party together hold the majority in the legislature.
The Ministry of the Interior expressed deep regret today that the legislature passed the third reading on amendments to the act that would raise the threshold for recall petitions without obtaining full public consensus.
Requiring petitioners to submit their ID card copies could risk leaking personal information, causing potential harm to people’s privacy and properties, the ministry said in a press release.
The amendments could discourage people from taking part in recall petitions and restrict voters’ right to recall officials, it said.
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