The legislature is set to pass amendments to the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act (公務人員選舉罷免法) that would lower the recall thresholds and to the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) that would do away with the need to apply for a permit or to inform authorities before staging demonstrations.
The two bills, as well as a proposed amendment to the Referendum Act (公民投票法), were all sent for review by the legislature’s Internal Administration Committee before President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) took office on May 20, but committee coconvener Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said that due to the opposition of civic groups to the proposed Referendum Act revisions, the other two amendments would be dealt with first.
Following the recommendations of the review committee and cross-caucus negotiations, the amendments would see the recall threshold for supporters of a recall lowered from 2 percent to 1 percent of total voters in an electoral district, while the signature threshold would be lowered from 13 percent to 10 percent.
The time period for the collection of signatures for recalls for all levels of elected representative would be doubled; the threshold for a recall to be considered successful would be changed from requiring “double halves” — the turnout must be more than half of the total number of voters in the electoral district and the number voting for a recall has to exceed half of the valid ballots — to a turnout of a quarter of the number of voters and a simple majority, while the clause that forbids campaigning for a recall would be scrapped.
Under the amendments, the Assembly and Parade Act would be renamed the assembly and parade protection act, the requirement for applying for a permit to stage a demonstration would be changed to allow protesters to voluntarily give authorities prior notice and all the penalties listed in the existing act would be expunged.
The 300m restricted zone around the Presidential Office Building in Taipei would be preserved, but those around international airports, ports and military bases would be cut from 300m to 100m, and those for the presidential and vice presidential residences would be reduced to 50m. The restricted zone around the Executive Yuan, the Examination Yuan, courts and embassies would be cut to 30m. A clause imposing a restricted zone of 30m around hospitals would be added.
DPP Legislator Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) said the rights of demonstrators should be protected, but at the same time protesters must take some responsibility to ensure that protests are peaceful and are not hijacked by extremists who want to cause disruption.
While the recall thresholds have been unreasonably high, lowering them should still retain reasonable thresholds, he added.
Denis Chen (陳致豪), president of the Taichung-based advocacy group Total Recall, said he supports the lowering of the recall thresholds, but if the quarter of voters threshold remains it would still be difficult for any recall to succeed.
He called for the requirement to be changed to a simple majority.
Appendectomy Project spokesman Lin Zu-yi (林祖儀) said the requirements on signature collections during the initial phase of a recall process already constitutes a high hurdle.
The project only received 50 to 100 signatures per day during its attempted recall of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers in 2014, he said, adding that if the group had not set up stands to solicit signatures outside polling stations on the day of the nine-in-one elections in late 2014, it would have been difficult for them to collect enough signatures.
Lin said that the lowered thresholds in the amended act would remain difficult to achieve.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
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
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
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
RSS