Organizing one national referendum and 26 recall elections targeting Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators could cost NT$1.62 billion (US$55.38 million), the Central Election Commission said yesterday.
The cost of each recall vote ranges from NT$16 million to NT$20 million, while that of a national referendum is NT$1.1 billion, the commission said.
Based on the higher estimate of NT$20 million per recall vote, if all 26 confirmed recall votes against KMT legislators are taken into consideration, along with the national referendum on restarting the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant, the total could be as much as NT$1.62 billion, it said.
Photo: Lee Wen-hsin, Taipei Times
The commission previously announced that 24 recall votes targeting KMT lawmakers would be held on July 26.
The lawmakers include KMT caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅崐萁); Taipei lawmakers Wang Hung-wei (王鴻薇), Hsu Chiao-hsin (徐巧芯), Lee Yen-hsiu (李彥秀), Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強) and Lai Shyh-bao (賴士葆); and New Taipei City lawmakers Hung Mong-kai (洪孟楷), Lin Te-fu (林德福), Chang Chih-lun (張智倫), Yeh Yuan-chih (葉元之) and Liao Hsien-hsiang (廖先翔).
The other KMT lawmakers are Huang Chien-pin (黃建賓), Cheng Cheng-chien (鄭正鈐), Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥), Wan Mei-ling (萬美玲), Lu Ming-che (魯明哲), Niu Hsu-ting (牛煦庭), Tu Chuan-chi (涂權吉), Liao Wei-hsiang (廖偉翔), Huang Chien-hao (黃健豪), Lo Ting-wei (羅廷瑋), Ting Hsueh-chung (丁學忠), Lu Yu-ling (呂玉玲) and Chiu Jo-hua (邱若華).
The commission has also approved recall votes against two KMT lawmakers from Nantou County, Ma Wen-chun (馬文君) and Yu Hao (游顥).
Their votes were scheduled for Aug. 23 due to the limited administrative capacity of the Nantou County Election Commission and the timeline required for recall procedures, the commission said previously.
The referendum on restarting the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant is also scheduled for Aug. 23.
The recall vote for suspended Hsinchu mayor Ann Kao is set for July 26, while the vote against Democratic Progressive Party Nantou County Councilor Chen Yu-ling (陳玉鈴) is to take place on July 13.
By law, the cost of recall elections for mayors and councilors is covered by local governments, the commission said.
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