Nineteen legislator recall campaigns passed an initial review and are to enter the second-stage petition, while the nine cases that did not reach the threshold would have another opportunity for supplementary submissions, the Central Election Commission (CEC) announced yesterday.
The CEC said it had received 64 recall proposals — 54 for lawmakers, one for a city mayor and nine for city or county councilors.
The 19 cases that passed the threshold were all against Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators, and the nine that did not reach the threshold were against Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators, people familiar with the matter said.
Photo: CNA
The 19 KMT lawmakers facing the second stage of the recall process include KMT caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅?萁), KMT caucus deputy secretary-general Wang Hung-wei (王鴻薇) and legislators Yeh Yuan-chih (葉元之), Yen Kuan-heng (顏寬恒) and Ma Wen-chun (馬文君), sources said.
Suspended Hsinchu Mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) is also said to be among the recalls that passed the threshold.
The nine DPP lawmakers whose recall proposals failed to meet the first-stage threshold are Wu Pei-yi (吳沛憶), Su Chiao-hui (蘇巧慧), Chang Hung-lu (張宏陸), Wu Chi-ming (吳琪銘), Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌), Ho Hsin-chun (何欣純), Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷), Saidhai Tahovecahe and Chen Ying (陳瑩), sources said.
By law, recall proposals must be reviewed by the CEC within 25 days, meaning that those submitted on Feb. 3 must be reviewed by today.
If a proposal meets the threshold requirements, the campaign’s leading proponent collects the petition from the commission within 10 days of receiving notice, the CEC said.
The recall process has three major stages, according to the CEC Web site.
The first stage requires signatures from 1 percent of total voters in the official’s electoral district, the second is a petition that must be signed by at least 10 percent of total voters within 60 days and the third is a simple majority vote in which total turnout must be at least 25 percent of voters in the district.
DPP spokeswoman Han Ying (韓瑩) said that constituents of 10 DPP legislators said they were impersonated in recall petitions.
The DPP legislators were Wang Mei-hui (王美惠), Chen Kuan-ting, Lee Kuen-cheng (李坤城), Huang Jie (黃捷), Hsu Chih-chieh (許智傑), Wang Ting-yu (王定宇), Su, Wu Chi-ming, Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲) and Chen Chun-yu (陳俊宇), she told a news conference.
While two constituents of Wang Mei-hui and Chen Kuan-ting filed a lawsuit against impersonators themselves, Lee, Huang, Hsu and Wang Ting-yu are seeking prosecution on their behalf, Han said.
As all the constituents impersonated had been Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) members years ago, the party accused the KMT of misusing their personal information.
Han also said the recall petition against Wang Mei-hui apparently involved illegal maneuvers, as the petitioner ceased the second phase of his petition shortly after her constituents filed a lawsuit against him.
Attorney Huang Di-ying (黃帝穎), head of an eight-member legal team aiming to help recall petitioners, said that people who have joined the KMT could receive a petition inquiry letter while not taking part in a petition, as they might have been impersonated by someone copying their name from a register.
Impersonation is punishable by up to five years in jail for forgery, up to three years for forged signature or an up-to-five-year sentence with a fine of up to NT$1 million (US$30,469) for unlawful collection and use of personal information, he said.
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