The New Party yesterday said that plans to launch a recall vote campaign against Taiwan Statebuilding Party (TSP) Legislator Chen Po-wei (陳柏惟) with the slogan “Let’s Fire 3Q,” referring to Chen’s nickname “3Q.”
Chinese-language media described the move as a “revenge recall” following Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu’s (韓國瑜) loss in the recall election against him on Saturday last week.
Han, the first Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) member to win the Kaohsiung post since 1994, lost the recall by a vote of 939,090 to 25,051, making him the first mayor of a special municipality ever to be recalled.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
New Party spokesman Wang Ping-chung (王炳忠) told a news conference in Taipei said the party was targeting Chen — who was born in Kaoshiung, but represents Taichung’s second constituency — as he is a “bumbling buffoon who lacks the needed professional knowledge.”
During a meeting of the legislature’s National Defense and Foreign Affairs Committee on March 9, Chen said China’s Taiwan Affairs Office was an agency of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) United Front Work Department, Wang said.
The phrases, “kong kiang” (恐鏘), which in Hoklo (also known as Taiwanese) means “touched in the head,” and “pu long gong” (噗嚨共), which means “foolish” could describe Chen’s performance, he said.
Photo: CNA
The Central Election Commission, the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Justice have demonstrated that it is acceptable to launch a recall campaign two months after an official is sworn into the job, Wang said.
Citizen Mowing Action (公民割草行動) and others launched their recall bid against Han two months after his inauguration, held protests seven months into his term and delivered the required signatures for a recall vote after Han’s first full year in office, Wang said.
The New Party would seek to duplicate that process, and would work with any group that would like to recall pan-green politicians, he said.
A recall campaign against Chen would only require 2,000 signatures in the first stage and 20,000 in the second stage, as his constituency had 290,000 eligible voters, Wang added.
If 70,000 out of the 100,000 voters who voted against Chen on Jan. 11 voted to recall him, a recall election would succeed, Wang said.
New Party member Lin Ming-cheng (林明正), called on the KMT to “man up” and initiate recalls for 10 pan-green legislators for supporting the recall campaign against Han.
Chen told reporters in Taichung that he was not concerned about the move, and considered it a milestone of his career that politicians “raised by the CCP” wanted to recall him.
The legislator said he doubted that the “rudderless” New Party campaign would take off.
The KMT should not march to the New Party’s beat, Chen said, adding that he would do his job, both as a Taiwanese and a lawmaker.
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