More than 450,000 signatures have been collected for the second-phase petition of a campaign to recall Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), with that number expected to surpass 500,000 by the middle of next month, Wecare Kaohsiung founder Aaron Yin (尹立) said yesterday, urging Han to “know when to quit.”
The recall petition organizers are “very close” to reaching their goal of 480,000 signatures, and the signatures include about 100,000 that were collected by Citizens Mowing Action, he said.
Organizers expect to have more than 500,000 signatures by the time they are to submit the second-phase petition papers to the Central Election Commission in the middle of next month, he said.
Photo: Huang Hsu-lei, Taipei Times
That they have been able to continue to collect signatures is an expression of the “collective will” of Kaohsiung’s residents, he said.
Despite a shortage of funds and resources, organizers would “fight to the end,” and they hope Taiwanese would support this “proud moment in the history of democracy,” he added.
The Civil Servants Election And Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法) permits political donations to election campaigns, but there are no such rules to aid recalls, Yin said.
He has consulted a lawyer about ways the campaign can attract more resources, he said.
Under the act, a review of a recall petition’s signatures must be completed within 40 days of their submission, and if deemed sufficient, a recall vote must be held 20 to 60 days later.
The threshold for the second stage of the recall bid is set at 10 percent of a city or county’s population, or about 228,000 in Kaohsiung’s case, while a formal recall would require at least 580,000 votes, or one-fourth of eligible voters in Kaohsiung in the final stage.
Asked about Yin’s comments, Kaohsiung Information Bureau Director-General Cheng Chao-hsin (鄭照新) said that city government colleagues are focused on running the city, including efforts to control the spread of COVID-19, and promoting bilingual education and agricultural products.
The January elections are over, while the COVID-19 outbreak is still changing, he said.
Instead of pursuing political goals, the city government is working for its residents every day, he added.
Meanwhile, former Taipei mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌), who is running in the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) chairperson election, said in a livestreamed interview that Han is “a very important asset and the pride of the KMT,” and that the party should rely on him.
Hau said he has “100 percent confidence” in Han’s ability to govern, and the next KMT chairperson should work closely with Han and help him avoid being recalled.
The KMT should cherish Han’s accomplishments in Kaohsiung and help him win the approval of the city’s residents, Hau said.
“Without Han Kuo-yu, the KMT could not have accomplished what it has,” he said.
In addition, those who voted for Han [in the Jan. 11 presidential election] are people who identify with the KMT, so the KMT should do a good job of internal reforms to repay them, Hau said.
The military has spotted two Chinese warships operating in waters near Penghu County in the Taiwan Strait and sent its own naval and air forces to monitor the vessels, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. Beijing sends warships and warplanes into the waters and skies around Taiwan on an almost daily basis, drawing condemnation from Taipei. While the ministry offers daily updates on the locations of Chinese military aircraft, it only rarely gives details of where Chinese warships are operating, generally only when it detects aircraft carriers, as happened last week. A Chinese destroyer and a frigate entered waters to the southwest
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s comment last year on Tokyo’s potential reaction to a Taiwan-China conflict has forced Beijing to rewrite its invasion plans, a retired Japanese general said. Takaichi told the Diet on Nov. 7 last year that a Chinese naval blockade or military attack on Taiwan could constitute a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan, potentially allowing Tokyo to exercise its right to collective self-defense. Former Japan Ground Self-Defense Force general Kiyofumi Ogawa said in a recent speech that the remark has been interpreted as meaning Japan could intervene in the early stages of a Taiwan Strait conflict, undermining China’s previous assumptions
Taiwan Railways Corp (TRC) today announced that Shin Kong Mitsukoshi has been selected as the preferred bidder to operate the Taipei Railway Station shopping mall, replacing the current operator, Breeze Development Co Ltd. Among eight qualified firms that delivered presentations and were evaluated by a review committee, Shin Kong Mitsukoshi was ranked first, while Breeze was named the runner-up, the rail company said in a statement. Contract negotiations are to proceed in accordance with regulations, it said, adding that if negotiations with the top bidder fail, it could invite the second-ranked applicant to enter talks. Breeze in a statement today expressed doubts over
RSS