The leader of efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Wang Mei-hui (王美惠) yesterday said they would stop collecting signatures for the second stage of the recall drive following allegation of forgeries.
A 65-year-old surnamed Cheng (鄭) and her lawyer yesterday alleged that the leader of the recall drive, surnamed Chen (陳), had falsified Cheng’s signature.
Cheng said she received a notice of confirmation from the Central Election Commission’s (CEC) Chiayi branch that she had signed the petition, alhough she had not.
Photo: CNA
She added that she suspected her personal information had been leaked.
In response, Chen yesterday said that he only received the returned petition forms collected by “eager members of the public” and could not verify them, adding that was why he submitted hundreds more petitions than required in the first stage of the recall process so that the CEC could verify the signatures.
Falsifying people’s signatures was never an idea that crossed his mind, and he is equally annoyed, he said.
“This [fake signature] has crossed my personal red line,” he said.
After the CEC announces the result of the current phase of the recall on Tuesday next week, Chen said he would hold a separate news conference to announce that he does not intend to continue collecting signatures for the second stage.
The Public Officials Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法) states that recalls have to undergo two stages, the first being the proposal, which requires 1 percent of voters in the electorate the official represents to sign the petition. In the second petition stage, signatures from 10 percent of voters in the electorate must be collected before a recall vote is held.
The act states that the recall vote must receive approval from one-quarter of the electorate.
Wang, who represents a constituency in Chiayi City, yesterday said that multiple incidents of forged signatures — including one reported last month of a signature belonging to a person who had passed away — showed that allegations of people copying names off existing lists, such as membership lists at party branches, held some truth, adding that she hoped all such illegal acts would be punished.
Rainfall is expected to become more widespread and persistent across central and southern Taiwan over the next few days, with the effects of the weather patterns becoming most prominent between last night and tomorrow, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Independent meteorologist Daniel Wu (吳德榮) said that based on the latest forecast models of the combination of a low-pressure system and southwesterly winds, rainfall and flooding are expected to continue in central and southern Taiwan from today to Sunday. The CWA also warned of flash floods, thunder and lightning, and strong gusts in these areas, as well as landslides and fallen
WAITING GAME: The US has so far only offered a ‘best rate tariff,’ which officials assume is about 15 percent, the same as Japan, a person familiar with the matter said Taiwan and the US have completed “technical consultations” regarding tariffs and a finalized rate is expected to be released soon, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference yesterday, as a 90-day pause on US President Donald Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs is set to expire today. The two countries have reached a “certain degree of consensus” on issues such as tariffs, nontariff trade barriers, trade facilitation, supply chain resilience and economic security, Lee said. They also discussed opportunities for cooperation, investment and procurement, she said. A joint statement is still being negotiated and would be released once the US government has made
SOUTH CHINA SEA? The Philippine president spoke of adding more classrooms and power plants, while skipping tensions with China over disputed areas Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday blasted “useless and crumbling” flood control projects in a state of the nation address that focused on domestic issues after a months-long feud with his vice president. Addressing a joint session of congress after days of rain that left at least 31 dead, Marcos repeated his recent warning that the nation faced a climate change-driven “new normal,” while pledging to investigate publicly funded projects that had failed. “Let’s not pretend, the people know that these projects can breed corruption. Kickbacks ... for the boys,” he said, citing houses that were “swept away” by the floods. “Someone has
‘CRUDE’: The potential countermeasure is in response to South Africa renaming Taiwan’s representative offices and the insistence that it move out of Pretoria Taiwan is considering banning exports of semiconductors to South Africa after the latter unilaterally downgraded and changed the names of Taiwan’s two representative offices, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday. On Monday last week, the South African Department of International Relations and Cooperation unilaterally released a statement saying that, as of April 1, the Taipei Liaison Offices in Pretoria and Cape Town had been renamed the “Taipei Commercial Office in Johannesburg” and the “Taipei Commercial Office in Cape Town.” Citing UN General Assembly Resolution 2758, it said that South Africa “recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the sole
RSS