The leader of efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Wang Mei-hui (王美惠) yesterday said they would stop collecting signatures for the second stage of the recall drive following allegation of forgeries.
A 65-year-old surnamed Cheng (鄭) and her lawyer yesterday alleged that the leader of the recall drive, surnamed Chen (陳), had falsified Cheng’s signature.
Cheng said she received a notice of confirmation from the Central Election Commission’s (CEC) Chiayi branch that she had signed the petition, alhough she had not.
Photo: CNA
She added that she suspected her personal information had been leaked.
In response, Chen yesterday said that he only received the returned petition forms collected by “eager members of the public” and could not verify them, adding that was why he submitted hundreds more petitions than required in the first stage of the recall process so that the CEC could verify the signatures.
Falsifying people’s signatures was never an idea that crossed his mind, and he is equally annoyed, he said.
“This [fake signature] has crossed my personal red line,” he said.
After the CEC announces the result of the current phase of the recall on Tuesday next week, Chen said he would hold a separate news conference to announce that he does not intend to continue collecting signatures for the second stage.
The Public Officials Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法) states that recalls have to undergo two stages, the first being the proposal, which requires 1 percent of voters in the electorate the official represents to sign the petition. In the second petition stage, signatures from 10 percent of voters in the electorate must be collected before a recall vote is held.
The act states that the recall vote must receive approval from one-quarter of the electorate.
Wang, who represents a constituency in Chiayi City, yesterday said that multiple incidents of forged signatures — including one reported last month of a signature belonging to a person who had passed away — showed that allegations of people copying names off existing lists, such as membership lists at party branches, held some truth, adding that she hoped all such illegal acts would be punished.
Seventy percent of middle and elementary schools now conduct English classes entirely in English, the Ministry of Education said, as it encourages schools nationwide to adopt this practice Minister of Education (MOE) Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) is scheduled to present a report on the government’s bilingual education policy to the Legislative Yuan’s Education and Culture Committee today. The report would outline strategies aimed at expanding access to education, reducing regional disparities and improving talent cultivation. Implementation of bilingual education policies has varied across local governments, occasionally drawing public criticism. For example, some schools have required teachers of non-English subjects to pass English proficiency
‘FORM OF PROTEST’: The German Institute Taipei said it was ‘shocked’ to see Nazi symbolism used in connection with political aims as it condemned the incident Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 yesterday amid an outcry over a Nazi armband he wore to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case on Tuesday night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and apparently covering the book with a coat. This is a serious international scandal and Chinese
TRADE: The premier pledged safeguards on ‘Made in Taiwan’ labeling, anti-dumping measures and stricter export controls to strengthen its position in trade talks Products labeled “made in Taiwan” must be genuinely made in Taiwan, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday, vowing to enforce strict safeguards against “origin laundering” and initiate anti-dumping investigations to prevent China dumping its products in Taiwan. Cho made the remarks in a discussion session with representatives from industries in Kaohsiung. In response to the US government’s recent announcement of “reciprocal” tariffs on its trading partners, President William Lai (賴清德) and Cho last week began a series of consultations with industry leaders nationwide to gather feedback and address concerns. Taiwanese and US officials held a videoconference on Friday evening to discuss the
PERSONAL DATA: The implicated KMT members allegedly compiled their petitions by copying names from party lists without the consent of the people concerned Judicial authorities searched six locations yesterday and questioned six people, including one elderly Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) member and five KMT Youth League associates, about alleged signature forgery and fraud relating to their recall efforts against two Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators. After launching a probe into alleged signature forgery and related fraud in the KMT’s recall effort, prosecutors received a number of complaints, including about one petition that had 1,748 signatures of voters whose family members said they had already passed away, and also voters who said they did not approve the use of their name, Taipei Deputy Chief Prosecutor
RSS