A petition to recall independent Legislator Freddy Lim (林昶佐) has gained enough signatures to proceed to the second stage, the Central Election Commission (CEC) said on Tuesday.
The CEC said the petitioners have 60 days to collect the required number of signatures for the second stage.
The first stage of a recall petition against a legislator requires the signatures of 1 percent of eligible voters in the lawmaker’s constituency. The bar is raised to 10 percent for the second stage before a recall vote can be held.
There are 244,748 eligible voters in Lim’s constituency, Taipei’s Fifth District, which means that at least 24,474 signatures are required to proceed to a vote.
The recall petition was initiated by one of Lim’s constituents, Cheng Ta-ping (鄭大平), along with independent Taipei City Councilor Chung Hsiao-ping (鍾小平) and former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) spokesman Eric Huang (黃裕鈞). It gained about 4,300 first-stage signatures, which were submitted to the CEC on July 19 for review.
The initiators said Lim should be recalled because he had failed in his duties as a representative of Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), which became the epicenter of a domestic COVID-19 outbreak that started in the area in May.
Lim, 45, was elected as an independent last year to a second legislative term, after serving his first term as a New Power Party lawmaker. Before his political career, he had gained international success as the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Chthonic and was known as an advocate for Taiwanese independence.
Asked about the CEC’s statement, Lim said he respects the process and that his main focus remains on combating COVID-19 and supporting local businesses in Wanhua.
There have been several recall efforts since last year, including a successful campaign to remove Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) as Kaohsiung’s KMT mayor. In January this year, Wang Hao-yu (王浩宇) of the Democratic Progressive Party was removed as a Taoyuan city councilor in a recall effort, while independent Kaohsiung City Councilor Huang Jie (黃捷) survived a Feburary recall vote.
A recall vote on Legislator Chen Po-wei (陳柏惟) is scheduled for Oct. 23.
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