Citizen groups yesterday at a news conference in Taipei said that they are confident of recalling at least 12 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers, including KMT caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅?萁), so they can “restore democracy back” to the Legislative Yuan.
Convened by the Taiwan Inspiration Association (TIA), the event gathered leading activists of four citizen groups from northern Taiwan and Hualien County who are campaigning for the recall votes, as well as members of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to present their views to international media.
The TIA sent its main message to Beijing on a banner reading “Hands off! Taiwan’s Parliament is not China’s,” while holding placards reading “Grand Recall, Great Success.”
Photo: CNA
Chen Hsiao-wei (陳曉煒), a Presbyterian Church pastor in Taoyuan, said the citizen groups had assessed that they would able to oust a minimum of 12 KMT lawmakers in the recall votes on July 26 and Aug. 23.
“If we can recall at least 12 lawmakers, then the legislature can return to ‘normalcy’ and can function in the way it has in the past, but it is up to the public to decide the outcome of the upcoming recall votes,” said Chen, who is the initiator of the recall campaign against KMT Legislator Niu Hsu-ting (牛煦庭) in Taoyuan.
Popular Taiwanese YouTuber Pa Chiung (八炯) said that Fu would be among those getting voted out of office on July 26.
“We are quite certain of it, we have 90 percent confidence that Fu would be ousted. It will be the end for Fu on July 26,” he said.
However, the fight must go on, because a by-election would be held for the vacant seat in Hualien County, he said.
“So we shall carry on the work, and must not allow another pro-China politician to get elected there, as all upcoming elections next year are very important to safeguard Taiwan’s democracy,” he added.
Cross-Strait Policy Association director Stephen Tan (譚耀南) said that the ongoing efforts for the recall votes has been a “political movement” through active participation by civil society groups.
“It is not a showdown between political parties, not the green camp versus the blue camp, and it is not about a vote of confidence for the ruling party,” he said. “It is about citizens in those electoral constituencies having the right to decide if their elected lawmaker or city mayor is suited to serve.”
“The situation is due to citizens having seen enough and wanting to make a change, to oust those KMT lawmakers who are cooperating with Beijing to create political turmoil and shut down the Constitutional Court, grabbing power to illegally expand their authority and slashing fiscal budgets with reckless abandon. So people can cast a ‘Yes’ ballot to remove them in the recall votes,” Tan said.
Law professor Carol Lin (林志潔) said that it is a new Taiwanese political movement, entirely initiated by citizens collecting signatures to start the petitions, then receiving support from other civil society groups and DPP members to push the campaigns on, which are now into their final mile, she said, urging people to vote “Yes” so “we can sustain Taiwan’s democracy, to ensure future generations still have the right to vote in elections.”
Meanwhile, the three main political parties are to decide today whether to extend the legislative session to the end of next month.
Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) had convened a cross-party negotiation on the issue, but it failed to reach a consensus, with the TPP and the KMT wanting to extend the session to Aug. 31, and the DPP disagreeing.
KMT Legislator-at-large Weng Hsiao-ling (翁曉玲) said that with Taiwan facing uncertainty over US tariffs, with Washington not yet announcing the rate, the session needs to be extended.
“There could be changes and various factors involved that affect economic growth and the stability of government bodies, therefore the KMT supports extending the session to the end of next month,” Weng said.
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