Independent Kaohsiung City Councilor Huang Jie (黃捷), who survived a recall vote over the weekend, and members of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday said they hoped for a return to normalcy, as organizers of the recall campaign filed a complaint alleging that Huang had contravened the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法).
Campaign spokesman Hsu Shang-hsien (徐尚賢), together with others affiliated with the pan-blue camp, headed to the Kaohsiung City Election Commission (CEC) office to present a list of alleged contraventions by Huang on the day of recall vote, and requested an investigation.
“We respect the decision to do so by people heading the recall drive, but now is a busy time for Kaohsiung residents in all neighborhoods. People just want to get back to their normal lives and do their work,” Huang said.
Photo: CNA
“Today I visited areas in my constituency to inspect several matters and settle some cases in my capacity as a city councilor. We are busy working so that local residents can have improved conditions … [during the] the Lunar New Year holiday,” she said.
“The recall vote is over, and I hope everyone can respect the result. Let us put our differences aside and cast away hatred,” she added.
Asked if she would join the DPP as has been speculated, Huang said: “People who helped me are like a big pro-Taiwan family, pushing for progress in our nation.”
Meanwhile, DPP officials said that trying to have Saturday’s vote overturned and launching recall drives are a waste of time and resources, which would lead to further social discord and political confrontation.
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and its affiliated groups should end these recall drives as they are unlikely to get the desired result, the DPP officials said.
Hsu, who belongs to KMT’s retired military personnel faction, said that Huang when interviewed on Saturday had said things such as “it is a retribution recall,” and “the recall drive got started, then they tried to find reasons.”
Hsu said she had contravened the act, as it prohibits the promotion or advertising of candidate’s campaign on voting day.
However, media personality Wang Ruei-deh (王瑞德) said that he has filed lawsuits against KMT supporters, as they had on Saturday posted messages on Line, Facebook and other social media platforms asking their friends to vote to recall Huang.
Wang said he and people helping him had joined the social media groups of KMT members and supporters of former Kaohsiung mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), and gathered the evidence on 276 people who had contravened the act.
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