A recall vote on Saturday to remove Kaohsiung mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) should sound a cautionary note to politicians who are inclined to overreach, National Dong Hwa University professor Shih Cheng-feng (施正鋒) said yesterday.
Politicians should keep their feet firmly on the ground and fulfill their promises to the electorate, the professor said in reference to Han’s quick rise from relative obscurity to city mayor and KMT presidential candidate.
“A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush,” Shih said after Kaohsiung City Election Commission’s final count showed 939,090 (97.4 percent) in favor of recalling Han and 25,051 (2.6 percent) against, with a 42.14 percent voter turnout.
Photo: CNA
The recall initiative was launched after Han decided to run as the KMT candidate in the presidential election in January, entering the race less than a year after being elected mayor, in what some voters said was a betrayal of his promises in the mayoral campaign.
Shih said the results of Saturday’s election also carried a message for voters that they must be more discerning and pay greater attention to what politicians are promising.
Liao Da-chi (廖達琪), political science professor at National Sun Yat-sen University in Kaohsiung, said she was not surprised by the outcome of the vote.
The Democratic Progressive Party went all-out, mobilizing its legislators and city councilors in Kaohsiung to remove Han, she added.
Han conceded defeat at 5:30pm on Saturday, saying that the number of ballots cast in the recall election had passed the 574,996 threshold — 25 percent of Kaohsiung’s eligible voters — and that the majority had voted to remove him.
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