The mass campaign to recall Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators has received more endorsements from different segments of society in the past few days, citizen groups told a news conference in Taipei yesterday, urging people to call their friends and relatives to further consolidate support.
The groups pointed to the launch of the “Labor and Industry Support Recall Campaign” (百工百業挺罷免) movement online, which has gathered momentum as people from all walks of life posted about their work and their support for the recall vote.
Two recall campaigners in Taipei, known as Amei (阿美) and Carol (卡羅), were joined by fellow campaigners, writers and city councilors for the “Pull in one more vote to safeguard Taiwan” news conference, which was cosponsored by the Koo Kwang-Ming Foundation.
Photo: Lo Kou-chia, Taipei Times
“KMT legislators have forged close links with China, allowing Beijing to control these pro-China lawmakers, which in turn control our legislature. Taiwan is in grave danger, and we must stop them through the recall vote to prevent Taiwan from becoming like Hong Kong. We need to reboot, to restart the legislature and to restart Taiwan’s democracy,” foundation chairwoman Michelle Wang (王美琇) said.
Asked about their expectations about the outcome, the groups said that they still believe the campaign would be able to recall at least 10 KMT lawmakers.
However, recall campaigners cannot afford to let up and everybody is fully committed to winning the vote in the 24 legislative constituencies on Saturday, as well as in their efforts to oust suspended Hsinchu mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) of the Taiwan People’s Party, who has been convicted of corruption, they said.
Photo: I-Hwa Cheng, AFP
Asked about reports if leaders of citizen groups or politicians would take responsibility if they did not achieve their recall targets, Amei said: “It is private citizens who initiated this mass recall movement, and we later got help from small political parties, and also from the ruling party.”
“If we fail to achieve our target, then we all, as Taiwanese citizens, would shoulder the blame for failing to oust unsuitable lawmakers,” she said. “We have worked tirelessly since last year. It is not fair to place the blame on certain recall groups or certain activists if we fail to reach our goal.”
“We have three days left, we have to fight on to ensure that everyone on our side would go out to vote on Saturday. We would not discuss who should take the blame. All citizen volunteers have high hopes for success, as we are fully committed to make a change, for our legislature to return to normal,” Carol said.
Photo: CNA
The Labor and Industry Support Recall Campaign movement has garnered enthusiastic support on social media, with people posting messages on Threads, Facebook, Line and other platforms, stating their line of work and expressing their support for the vote to oust pro-China lawmakers, Amei said.
Aside from prominent business leaders, the movement has attracted the support of doctors, coffee shop owners, lawyers, teachers, architects, engineers, civil servants, media workers, YouTubers and a host of other industries, with many simply posting their name and job, and that they support the recall movement as private citizens, she added.
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