The Central Election Commission (CEC) yesterday approved recall vote proposals against five more Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers, bringing the total number of recall elections to 31.
Voting on the five lawmakers — Lo Ming-tsai (羅明才), Yan Kuan-heng (顏寬恒), Yang Chiung-ying (楊瓊瓔), Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) and Lin Szu-ming (林思銘) — is scheduled for Aug. 23, the CEC said.
Per the Civil Servants’ Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法), a recall campaign is valid if the number of yes votes exceeds the number of opposing votes, and if the supporting votes surpass one-quarter of the total eligible voters in the legislator’s electoral district.
Photo: Liao Yao-tung, Taipei Times
This is the second wave of recall campaigns against KMT lawmakers approved by the commission.
The first wave of recall campaigns targets 26 KMT legislators, including caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅崑萁), Huang Chien-pin (黃建賓), Wang Hung-wei (王鴻薇), Lee Yan-hisu (李彥秀), Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強), Hsu Chiao-hsin (徐巧芯), Lai Shyh-bao (賴士葆), Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷), Yeh Yuan-chih (葉元之), Chang Chih-lun (張智倫), Lin Te-fu (林德福), Liao Hsien-hsiang (廖先翔), Liao Wei-hsiang (廖偉翔), Niu Hsu-ting (牛煦庭), Tu Chuan-chi (涂權吉), Lu Ming-che (魯明哲), Wan Mei-ling (萬美玲), Lu Yu-ling (呂玉玲), Chiu Juo-hua (邱若華), Huang Chien-hao (黃健豪), Lo Ting-wei (羅廷瑋), Cheng Cheng-chien (鄭正鈐), Ting Hsueh-chung (丁學忠) and Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥).
The recall vote for these 24 legislators is scheduled for Saturday.
Meanwhile, voting about Nantou County KMT legislators Ma Wen-chun (馬文君) and Yu Hao (游顥) is to take place on Aug. 23, alongside the recall elections on five other KMT lawmakers.
The average cost to process a single legislator recall case ranges between NT$16 million and NT$20 million (US$544,107 to US$680,133), and the total cost for holding 31 recall elections would amount to NT$620 million, the CEC said.
The government would also incur costs of NT$1.1 billion for a referendum on restarting the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant, meaning the total cost for the upcoming polls, including the recall votes and the referendum, would amount to NT$1.7 billion, it said.
The referendum is to be held on Aug. 23 alongside the recall votes.
Additional reporting by CNA
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