We Care Kaohsiung, which last year organized a rally drawing 80,000 people, announced on Tuesday evening that it is preparing to launch a petition to recall Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜).
Over the past few months, Han has shown himself to be “uninterested and incompetent in running the city,” the group wrote on Facebook.
“Can we accept having someone like him be the mayor of Kaohsiung? The answer should be a resounding ‘no,’” the group added.
Photo copied by Huang Chia-lin, Taipei Times
We Care Kaohsiung was last year formed by Kaohsiung residents and civil groups to promote a Nov. 17 rally in the city to oppose smear campaigns and bullying related to the Nov. 24 local elections.
Some people hope to decide whether to recall Han after the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) presidential primary, but the mayor should be recalled regardless of the primary results, the group said.
“To recall Han, we must not wait and need not wait,” it said.
Initiating a recall election is a lengthy process and would require the support of at least 600,000 people, the group said.
To ensure that Han is recalled, the group has held multiple discussions, and consulted many experts and veterans of recall and referendum campaigns, it said.
The recall campaign would be carefully planned, the group said, urging people to support its cause.
To launch an election to recall a mayor, 1 percent of the electorate in Kaohsiung, or 22,814 residents, must sign a first-phase recall petition, according to the Civil Servants Election And Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法).
Following that, 10 percent of the local electorate, or 228,134 residents, must sign a second-phase petition in 60 days.
To recall the mayor, 25 percent of Kaohsiung’s electorate must vote in favor of recalling him, with the number of “yes” votes exceeding the “no” votes.
Considering that Han was elected mayor with nearly 890,000 votes, We Care Kaohsiung estimated that at least 600,000 “yes” votes would be needed in the recall election.
INCREASED CAPACITY: The flights on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays would leave Singapore in the morning and Taipei in the afternoon Singapore Airlines is adding four supplementary flights to Taipei per week until May to meet increased tourist and business travel demand, the carrier said on Friday. The addition would raise the number of weekly flights it operates to Taipei to 18, Singapore Airlines Taiwan general manager Timothy Ouyang (歐陽漢源) said. The airline has recorded a steady rise in tourist and business travel to and from Taipei, and aims to provide more flexible travel arrangements for passengers, said Ouyang, who assumed the post in July last year. From now until Saturday next week, four additional flights would depart from Singapore on Monday, Wednesday, Friday
The Ministry of National Defense yesterday reported the return of large-scale Chinese air force activities after their unexplained absence for more than two weeks, which had prompted speculation regarding Beijing’s motives. China usually sends fighter jets, drones and other military aircraft around the nation on a daily basis. Interruptions to such routine are generally caused by bad weather. The Ministry of National Defense said it had detected 26 Chinese military aircraft in the Taiwan Strait over the previous 24 hours. It last reported that many aircraft on Feb. 25, when it spotted 30 aircraft, saying Beijing was carrying out another “joint combat
Taiwan successfully defended its women’s 540 kilogram title and won its first-ever men’s 640 kg title at the 2026 World Indoor Tug of War Championships in Taipei yesterday. In the women’s event, Taiwan’s eight-person squad reached the final following a round-robin preliminary round and semifinals featuring teams from Ukraine, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, the Basque Country and South Korea. In the finals, they swept the Basque team 2-0, giving the team composed mainly of National Taiwan Normal University students and graduates its second championship in a row, and its fourth in five years. Team captain
When Paraguayan opposition lawmaker Leidy Galeano returned from an all-expenses-paid tour of six Chinese cities late last year, she was convinced Paraguay risked missing out on major economic gains by sticking with longtime ally Taipei over Beijing — a message that participants on the trip heard repeatedly from Chinese officials. “Everything I saw there, I wanted for my country,” said Galeano, a member of the newly-formed Yo Creo party whose senior figures have spoken favorably about China. This trip and others like it — which people familiar with the visits said were at the invitation of the Chinese consulate in Sao Paulo
RSS