President William Lai (賴清德) on Tuesday promulgated amendments to the Public Officials Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法) that tighten requirements for petitions used to initiate the recall of elected officials, after the Legislative Yuan rejected a revote requested by the Cabinet last week.
The amendments take effect three days after the promulgation.
The amendments to the act, proposed by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators and backed by their counterparts from the Taiwan People’s Party, were passed by a majority of lawmakers on Dec. 20 last year.
Photo courtesy of Wong Ming-chih
The newly amended law requires people initiating a recall petition and those who sign up to such an initiative to provide photocopies of their identification cards when submitting petition signatures.
In the past, campaigners only had to present the ID numbers and registered addresses of those endorsing a recall petition to local election commissions, a process critics said had been abused.
The new law also includes punitive measures, stipulating that anyone found guilty of using someone else’s identification or forging an ID for a recall petition could face up to five years in prison or a fine of up to NT$1 million (US$30,536).
The Executive Yuan has argued that the amended recall act would “exceedingly restrict” the public’s right to recall elected officials and “significantly increase the burden” of local electoral authorities.
The Cabinet on Jan. 24 requested the legislature to reconsider the amendments based on the provisions of the Constitution, saying it would be difficult to execute.
However, the Legislative Yuan on Tuesday last week voted to uphold the new legislation and sent it to the Presidential Office a day later, paving the path to its promulgation by Lai on Tuesday.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus chief executive Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) on Tuesday said that the party would follow the Constitution and seek a remedy.
The DPP is to go to the Judicial Yuan at 10:30am today to request an injunction and constitutional interpretation of the amendments, DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) said yesterday.
However, the newly amended Constitutional Court Procedure Act (憲法訴訟法) mandates that a minimum of 10 grand justices hear and rule on a case, and an unconstitutional ruling be supported by at least nine justices.
Currently, the Constitutional Court has only eight grand justices, as the Legislative Yuan has declined to approve a new slate of nominations put forward by Lai in December last year.
Meanwhile, recall campaigners in Kinmen County yesterday rushed to compile signatures and submit a petition to recall KMT Legislator Chen Yu-jen (陳玉珍) before the new amendments take effect.
The campaigners set up signing stations and delivered the petitions on a flight to Taipei, recall campaign leader Wong Ming-chih (翁明志) said.
This is a chance to convey Kinmen’s true values and amplify Kinmen’s voice, Weng said.
Additional reporting by Chen Cheng-yu and Wu Cheng-ting
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
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
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
‘SAME OLD TRICK’: Even if Beijing resumes individual travel to Taiwan, it would only benefit Chinese tourism companies, the Economic Democracy Union convener said China’s 10 new “incentives” are “sugar-coated poison,” an official said yesterday, adding that Taiwanese businesses see them clearly for what they are, but that Beijing would inevitably find some local collaborators to try to drums up support. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, made the remark ahead of a news conference the General Chamber of Commerce is to hold today. The event, titled “Industry Perspectives on China’s Recent Pro-Taiwan Policies,” is expected to include representatives from industry associations — such as those in travel, hotels, food and agriculture — to request the government cooperate with China’s new measures, people familiar with
RSS