A draft amendment proposing that an elected official can only be recalled if the number of recall votes exceeds the number of votes with which they were originally elected is based on a questionable argument, the Central Election Commission (CEC) said yesterday, adding that Taiwan would become the only country with such a recall system if it is passed.
The legislature’s Internal Administration Committee yesterday reviewed draft amendments to the Public Officials Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法), including one motioned by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Hsu Yu-chen (許宇甄) to increase the threshold for passage.
This proposal would make it difficult, but not impossible for elected officials to be recalled, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Tsai Yi-yu (蔡易餘) said, citing the example of former Kaohsiung mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), who was recalled with 939,090 votes after being elected as major with 892,545 votes.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
However, none of the other recall elections held in recent years had a voting rate greater than that of their regular election counterparts, he said, adding that the threshold proposed by Hsu would make future recalls unlikely to succeed
No threshold was set in the act on recall voting rates, and the legal force of a recall vote should not be invalidated because of a low turnout, CEC Chairman Lee Chin-yung (李進勇) said.
The votes an official received in their election should not be used as a benchmark for the votes necessary to recall them, as some people who voted them into the post might change their mind and vote to recall them, Lee said.
The current recall mechanism is deficient due to the low passage thresholds for the petition and the recall election, making it easily abused for political means, Hsu said.
Polls have shown that more than half of the public are opposed to allowing the minority to invalidate the majority, and they agreed with the amendment, Hsu said.
Lee said that Hsu’s phrasing of “the minority invalidating the majority” oversimplified the problem, as turnouts, voting rates and numbers of candidates differ between recalls and elections.
The problem does exist and can be discussed, but comparing recall votes with original votes is an unsuitable solution, he said.
Meanwhile, DPP lawmakers quarreled with KMT Legislator Hsu Hsin-ying (徐欣瑩), who hosted the committee meeting and reduced the speaking time for each legislator, saying that there were too many speakers.
She muted the microphone when some DPP lawmakers were speaking, causing complaints from the DPP caucus.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was sentenced to six months in prison, commutable to a fine, by the New Taipei District Court today for contravening the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法) in a case linked to an alleged draft-dodging scheme. Wang allegedly paid NT$3.6 million (US$114,380) to an illegal group to help him evade mandatory military service through falsified medical documents, prosecutors said. He transferred the funds to Chen Chih-ming (陳志明), the alleged mastermind of a draft-evasion ring, although he lost contact with him as he was already in detention on fraud charges, they said. Chen is accused of helping a
UNREASONABLE SURVEILLANCE: A camera targeted on an road by a neighbor captured a man’s habitual unsignaled turn into home, netting him dozens of tickets The Taichung High Administrative Court has canceled all 45 tickets given to a man for failing to use a turn signal while driving, as it considered long-term surveillance of his privacy more problematic than the traffic violations. The man, surnamed Tseng (曾), lives in Changhua County and was reported 45 times within a month for failing to signal while driving when he turned into the alley where his residence is. The reports were filed by his neighbor, who set up security cameras that constantly monitored not only the alley but also the door and yard of Tseng’s house. The surveillance occurred from July
SECURITY: Starlink owner Elon Musk has taken pro-Beijing positions, and allowing pro-China companies to control Taiwan’s critical infrastructure is risky, a legislator said Starlink was reluctant to offer services in Taiwan because of the nation’s extremely high penetration rates in 4G and 5G services, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday. The ministry made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which reviewed amendments to Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法). Article 36 bans foreigners from holding more than 49 percent of shares in public telecommunications networks, while shares foreigners directly and indirectly hold are also capped at 60 percent of the total, unless specified otherwise by law. The amendments, sponsored by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko
A Japan Self-Defense Forces vessel entered the Taiwan Strait yesterday, Japanese media reported. After passing through the Taiwan Strait, the Ikazuchi was to proceed to the South China Sea to take part in a joint military exercise with the US and the Philippines, the reports said. Japan Self-Defense Force vessels were first reported to have passed through the strait in September, 2024, with two further transits taking place in February and June last year, the Asahi Shimbun reported. Yesterday’s transit also marked the first time since Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi took office that a Japanese warship has been sent through the Taiwan
RSS