The Appendectomy Project recall campaign aimed at ousting legislators was nominated to participate in this year’s Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in France, one of the largest global events for the creative industries.
Appendectomy Project spokesperson Lin Zu-yi (林祖儀), also known as “Mr Lin from Taipei” (台北林先生), yesterday said that he hopes the team’s participation will publicize the vibrancy and progress of Taiwanese democracy on a global scale and add to the nation’s medal counts in the festival — one gold and three bronzes so far, he said.
A group of netizens founded the Appendectomy Project last year to try to oust lawmakers who had ignored the public in the wake of the Sunflower movement, and the project overcame many obstacles and established several landmarks in the nation’s recall elections, he said.
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
The project began on May 5 last year and sought to collect the signatures of 13 percent of eligible voters in a constituency within 30 days to pass the required threshold for a legislative recall petition as stipulated by the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法), Lin said, adding that the requirement was unreasonable.
With the help of the V Project online publicity campaign, the organizers recruited 3,000 volunteers to collect 60,000 signatures within eight hours to pass the threshold during the nine-in-one elections on Nov. 29 last year, leading to the nation’s first recall vote since 1994 and generating more than 5,000 news reports, he said.
Such an achievement amazed the festival’s organizers, who invited the team to participate in the competition, Lin said.
Even though the landmark recall referendum in February failed to unseat Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Alex Tsai (蔡正元), the team has continued to push for amendments to the recall act and has held seminars nationwide to promote their ideas, Lin said.
The team plans to launch a legislative watchdog Web site with other groups to provide voters with a reference point for next year’s legislative elections, he said.
The head of the recall Tsai campaign, identified only as Ashley, said that although the referendum failed to attain the required 50 percent voter turnout, an overwhelming majority of the 79,303 votes cast supported the recall.
The Apppendectomy Project plans to push for a lowered recall election threshold to secure constitutional rights to remove ‘unworthy’ officials from office, she said.
The other two recall campaigns initiated by the project — to recall KMT legislators Wu Yu-sheng (吳育昇) and Lin Hung-chih (林鴻池) — failed to draw support from at least 13 percent of voters from the lawmakers’ respective constituencies during the signature-gathering period to require referendums.
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) yesterday appealed to the authorities to release former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) from pretrial detention amid conflicting reports about his health. The TPP at a news conference on Thursday said that Ko should be released to a hospital for treatment, adding that he has blood in his urine and had spells of pain and nausea followed by vomiting over the past three months. Hsieh Yen-yau (謝炎堯), a retired professor of internal medicine and Ko’s former teacher, said that Ko’s symptoms aligned with gallstones, kidney inflammation and potentially dangerous heart conditions. Ko, charged with
Taiwan-based publisher Li Yanhe (李延賀) has been sentenced to three years in prison, fined 50,000 yuan (US$6,890) in personal assets and deprived political rights for one year for “inciting secession” in China, China's Taiwan Affairs Office spokesman Chen Binhua (陳斌華) said today. The Shanghai First Intermediate People’s Court announced the verdict on Feb. 17, Chen said. The trial was conducted lawfully, and in an open and fair manner, he said, adding that the verdict has since come into legal effect. The defendant reportedly admitted guilt and would appeal within the statutory appeal period, he said, adding that the defendant and his family have