A vote to recall Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) is to be held on June 6, the Central Election Commission (CEC) said yesterday after it verified the public endorsements of a recall petition.
The CEC verified the legitimacy of about 400,000 signatures of eligible voters in Kaohsiung, surpassing the threshold of 228,134, or 10 percent of the 2.28 million eligible voters in the mayoral election in November 2018.
By law, a recall vote must be held within 60 days of the CEC verifying the petition.
Photo: CNA
For the recall motion to pass, at least 25 percent of eligible voters — about 571,000 — must vote in favor of the recall measure, in addition to the total number of people voting for the measure exceeding those voting against it.
Led by Wecare Kaohsiung founder Aaron Yin (尹立) and other activist groups in Kaohsiung, the petition was initiated in June last year, after Han, of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), announced his presidential bid less than six months into his mayoral term.
The groups described Han’s presidential bid as a “betrayal,” saying that he was “quitting on Kaohsiung.”
Photo: Ko Yu-hao, Taipei Times
Han has said that the recall effort is politically motivated, but the recall campaigners said that the drive to remove him was based on a grassroots movement, and that Han had hit a resonant chord of indignation and bitterness among Kaohsiung residents.
Meanwhile, the Taipei High Administrative Court yesterday rejected a request by Han supporters to block the recall campaign, although Han’s lawyer, Yeh Ching-yuan (葉慶元), said that he would file an appeal.
Former Kaohsiung Information Bureau director-general Anne Wang (王淺秋) and Yeh on April 8 filed a request asking the court to issue a preliminary injunction to halt the recall campaign.
The court dismissed Han’s complaints that recall campaigners had “jumped the gun in collecting signatures,” ruling that the claim did not demonstrate the need for urgency in issuing a preliminary injunction against the recall and that there was no need to bypass existing procedures being used to handle the issue.
Han’s legal team had filed for an administrative motion, arguing that the groups that initiated the recall petition had breached Article 75 of the Civil Servants and Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法) by collecting signatures before Han had been in office for one year.
The team also sought a review of the CEC’s right to proceed with a recall vote against Han.
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
President William Lai (賴清德) has appointed former vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) to attend the late Pope Francis’ funeral at the Vatican City on Saturday on his behalf, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today. The Holy See announced Francis’ funeral would take place on Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square. The ministry expressed condolences over Francis’ passing and said that Chen would represent Taiwan at the funeral and offer condolences in person. Taiwan and the Vatican have a long-standing and close diplomatic relationship, the ministry said. Both sides agreed to have Chen represent Taiwan at the funeral, given his Catholic identity and
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
RSS