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.
US PUBLICATION: The results indicated a change in attitude after a 2023 survey showed 55 percent supported full-scale war to achieve unification, the report said More than half of Chinese were against the use of force to unify with Taiwan under any circumstances, a survey conducted by the Atlanta, Georgia-based Carter Center and Emory University found. The survey results, which were released on Wednesday in a report titled “Sovereignty, Security, & US-China Relations: Chinese Public Opinion,” showed that 55.1 percent of respondents agreed or somewhat agreed that “the Taiwan problem should not be resolved using force under any circumstances,” while 24.5 percent “strongly” or “somewhat” disagreed with the statement. The results indicated a change in attitude after a survey published in “Assessing Public Support for (Non)Peaceful Unification
The CIA has a message for Chinese government officials worried about their place in Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) government: Come work with us. The agency released two Mandarin-language videos on social media on Thursday inviting disgruntled officials to contact the CIA. The recruitment videos posted on YouTube and X racked up more than 5 million views combined in their first day. The outreach comes as CIA Director John Ratcliffe has vowed to boost the agency’s use of intelligence from human sources and its focus on China, which has recently targeted US officials with its own espionage operations. The videos are “aimed at
STEADFAST FRIEND: The bills encourage increased Taiwan-US engagement and address China’s distortion of UN Resolution 2758 to isolate Taiwan internationally The Presidential Office yesterday thanked the US House of Representatives for unanimously passing two Taiwan-related bills highlighting its solid support for Taiwan’s democracy and global participation, and for deepening bilateral relations. One of the bills, the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act, requires the US Department of State to periodically review its guidelines for engagement with Taiwan, and report to the US Congress on the guidelines and plans to lift self-imposed limitations on US-Taiwan engagement. The other bill is the Taiwan International Solidarity Act, which clarifies that UN Resolution 2758 does not address the issue of the representation of Taiwan or its people in
SHIFT: Taiwan’s better-than-expected first-quarter GDP and signs of weakness in the US have driven global capital back to emerging markets, the central bank head said The central bank yesterday blamed market speculation for the steep rise in the local currency, and urged exporters and financial institutions to stay calm and stop panic sell-offs to avoid hurting their own profitability. The nation’s top monetary policymaker said that it would step in, if necessary, to maintain order and stability in the foreign exchange market. The remarks came as the NT dollar yesterday closed up NT$0.919 to NT$30.145 against the US dollar in Taipei trading, after rising as high as NT$29.59 in intraday trading. The local currency has surged 5.85 percent against the greenback over the past two sessions, central