Two proposed national referendum questions could be bundled with recall votes against legislators in one election, depending on whether certain conditions are met, Central Election Commission (CEC) Chairman Lee Chin-yung (李進勇) said yesterday.
At a meeting of the legislature’s Internal Administration Committee, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators asked Lee if the referendums could be combined with recall votes to save costs.
Lee said that it could be done, but the process must conform to the law, reduce expenditures and resources, and would depend on the amount of work needed from election commission personnel.
Photo: Liao Cheng-hui, Taipei Times
KMT Legislator Chang Chih-lun (張智倫) said the recalls and national referendums should be held on the same day, to reduce expenses, resources and administrative workload.
KMT lawmakers, with support from their Taiwan People’s Party colleagues, have placed the referendum proposals on the legislative agenda for a vote tomorrow.
Putting the referendums, which oppose martial law and the abolition of the death penalty, on the ballot would act as a countermeasure to recall campaigns targeting KMT legislators, the parties’ leaders have said.
The earliest recall votes could be held would be in the first weeks of July, but as circumstances and rolling timetables are different for each electorate district, the dates are subject to change, Lee said.
“If a recall petition was submitted today, and if it passes the checks and inspection procedures, it could be formally approved to enter into third stage somewhere in mid-June,” he said.
However, a grace period of 20 to 60 days before the finalization of the recall voting day could mean a vote could be held at the earliest in the first-half of July, he said.
Each electoral district has different processing times and amount of work to be compiled, and the submission dates are different, meaning inspections for fraud and errors would not be completed at the same time, and therefore recall votes might not be held on the same date, he said.
Regarding the costs of holding recall votes, Lee said that the 2021 recall against then-Taiwan Statebuilding Party legislator Chen Po-wei (陳柏惟) of Taichung cost NT$20 million (US$660,175 at the current exchange rate).
An unsuccessful 2022 recall campaign against then-independent legislator Freddy Lim (林昶佐) of Taipei, the singer of the heavy metal band Chthonic, cost about NT$15 million, he said.
“It is difficult to estimate how much a recall vote would cost, as there are numerous factors and uncertainties, including district population numbers, the constituency’s area, composition of voters and population density, and other elements,” Lee said.
The recall votes against Chen and Lee would probably cost about NT$18 million if held today, he added.
As of yesterday, recall campaigners targeting KMT legislators have submitted petitions in the second stage of the recall, which requires signatures from at least 10 percent of voters in a district.
The groups said they expect petitions to be approved for 30 out of 35 targeted constituencies nationwide.
A signaling system malfunction disrupted high-speed rail (HSR) services beginning at 8am today, with trains temporarily reduced to three northbound and three southbound trains per hour as authorities conduct inspections. The malfunction occurred on a section of track in Miaoli County during pre-operation checks early this morning, forcing northbound and southbound trains to use a single track, the HSR operator said. The regular schedule has been replaced with three hourly trains offering only nonreserved seating in each direction, stopping at every station, it said, adding that business class cars would still have reserved seating. Departures from terminal stations are scheduled at the top
Taiwan is still in the process of assessing the possibility of recruiting workers from Eswatini, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday, adding that its goal is to help Eswatini upgrade its vocational training centers. If there are plans to recruit workers from Eswatini, safeguarding national security, protecting public health and ensuring the employment rights of Taiwanese would be prerequisites, Department of West Asian and African Affairs Director-General Yen Chia-liang (顏嘉良) told a news conference. Key considerations would also include filling labor shortages in specific industries, and fostering bilateral professional and technical exchanges, he said. Yen was asked about the progress of labor
VERBOSE VESSELS: A CGA cutter and a China Coast Guard exchanged verbal barbs for more than a day in Taiwanese-controlled waters before the Chinese vessel left The Taiwanese and Chinese coast guards had a standoff near the strategically located Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the north of the South China Sea, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The two sides engaged in intense radio exchanges over sovereignty claims during the 33-hour standoff. China Coast Guard vessel 3501 eventually left the restricted waters, 26.6 nautical miles (49.2km) west of the Pratas Islands, at 5pm yesterday, the CGA said. Lying approximately between southern Taiwan and Hong Kong, the Taiwan-controlled Pratas are seen by some security experts as vulnerable to Chinese attack due to their distance — more than
A US uncrewed surface vessel (USV) encountered multiple Chinese warships during an autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait, US defense company Seasats said in a statement on Wednesday. Seasats announced that a Lightfish USV had completed the first autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait. Over five days, the USV traversed the entire length of the Strait while constantly monitoring surface vessel traffic, the company said. The Lightfish encountered multiple Chinese warships, one of which was a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) Type 056 corvette, it said. The Chinese vessels were operating “well within Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone without transmitting their identity via the
RSS