The Central Election Commission yesterday said that a motion to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taoyuan City Councilor Wang Hao-yu (王浩宇) had been approved and the vote would be held on Jan. 16.
The motion was proposed by Hope Media executive officer Tang Ping-jung (唐平榮).
Eligible voters in the constituency represented by Wang number 315,143, of which 31,515 had to sign for the recall motion to proceed, the commission said.
Photo: Tsai Ching-hua, Taipei Times
The commission received 38,922 signatures, of which 5,506 were invalid, it said, adding that the number of valid signatures exceeded the threshold.
Wang would be asked to provide by Dec. 3 documents in his defense, while a televised debate on the recall would be held between Jan. 6 and Jan. 15, the commission said, adding that voting on Jan. 16 would run from 8am to 4pm.
The count would be verified and the result announced by Jan. 22, it said.
In related news, a group seeking to recall independent Kaohsiung City Councilor Huang Chieh (黃捷) yesterday delivered the second phase of signatures — totaling 40,918 — to the Kaohsiung City Election Commission.
Group spokesman Hsu Shang-hsien (徐尚賢) said that Fongshan District (鳳山) — which Huang represents — “does not need to be represented by someone who contributes to social instability and fails to live up to their own ideals.”
Huang has said that she wants to develop “rainbow” industries in Fongshan.
Critics have said that the plan would lead to social instability and would not respect heterosexuals.
They say that Huang’s absence when the city council voted on a measure to not permit residue of leanness-enhancing feed additives in meat showed that she does not live up to her own standards.
Huang yesterday said that she would remain focused on issues that require attention.
She called on her supporters who said that they wanted to protest the recall to stand down and continue with their lives.
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
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