Appendectomy Project volunteers last night held a final rally in Taipei to urge people to come out and vote today to recall Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Alex Tsai (蔡正元).
Hundreds of people gathered at Neihu District’s (內湖) Dahu Park (大湖公園), the heart of Tsai’s electoral district, with project volunteers fanning out to hand out pamphlets, buttons and other materials urging residents to vote and observe a “democratic Valentine’s Day.”
Tsai’s name was nowhere to be seen on the election materials, as the volunteers skirted a ban on campaigning in a recall vote.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
“Even though we are not allowed to tell people how they should vote, we can still publicize the date and urge residents to vote,” Appendectomy Project founder Ashley Hsu (許瑋珊) said, adding that since the Central Election Commission had ruled that the recall election date was public information, it did not count as campaigning.
The Civil Servants Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法) forbids campaigning during a recall election, while setting a high threshold for a recall to pass, requiring at least half of eligible voters to cast ballots for the results to be valid.
“I am thrilled that we have somehow been able to come this far,” an Appendectomy volunteer surnamed Hsu (徐) said, with other volunteers saying it felt “unreal” to finally be on the eve of the recall election.
Activists from several other groups also came out to support the group’s efforts.
Huang Chien-chung (黃建中), a volunteer with a group known as the Ghost Island Flag Soldiers (鬼島旗兵), said he had traveled from Kaohsiung to help out because of the recall movement’s historic significance.
“This recall is an important historical marker in the exercise of democratic rights by Taiwanese,” he said. “Even if it does not pass, it could still influence the 2016 elections by showing just how KMT legislators suck.”
Participants were treated to a series of appearances by political activists and celebrities, such as Academia Sinica researcher Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌), musician Jutoupi (豬頭皮), author Neil Peng (馮光遠) and political commentator Yao Li-ming (姚立明).
Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) arrived at about 9:30pm, after the rally, which began at 5:30pm, had drawn more than 1,000 people.
Ko did not make any comments on stage, but he nodded to Yao — his executive campaign director when he ran for Taipei mayor — when Yao asked him whether a recall vote is as important as an election, whether residents should cast a vote today, and whether he was on the same side as the crowd.
At a press conference earlier yesterday, Tsai panned the “Sunflower thugs” for pretending to be his supporters and sending out advertisements to push up voter turnout.
Since the recall vote would not be valid unless at least half of Tsai’s constituency in Neihu and Nangang (南港) — which means at least 150,000 voters — turn out for the vote, rallying for higher voter turnout is a vital strategy to ensure that the election is valid.
Tsai accused those who initiated the recall attempt — mostly young people whom he associated with the Sunflower movement — of manufacturing campaign advertisements calling on his supporters to “stand out and veto the recall with ballots” to show their support for Tsai.
Tsai said his attitude toward the recall vote can be summed up in “three noes”: no vote, no care and no publicity.
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