A Facebook group seeking to recall Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) launched a petition drive on Saturday, one week after Hou lost the presidential election to the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) presidential candidate Vice President William Lai (賴清德).
The group, which has 1,800 online members, organized a flash mob event near the Taipei MRT’s Xinpu Station on Saturday to gather signatures in support of advancing their campaign.
While the number of signatures collected was not revealed by the group, the event attracted considerable attention, with several participants expressing their frustration toward Hou for taking time off to run for president.
Photo: Liao Yao-tung, Taipei Times
A woman surnamed Chen (陳) said she supports the group and accused Hou of failing the 1.1 million voters who elected him mayor in 2022.
Hou should not have left his position to run for president, others said. They compared him to former Kaohsiung mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), of the KMT, who also ran for president while in office in 2020. Han was recalled five months after losing to incumbent President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文).
Hou on Saturday, responded to the campaign by apologizing to New Taipei City’s residents, saying: “I promise I will redouble my efforts and go all out to ensure the city never stops growing.”
The Civil Servants Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法) says that recalling an elected official is a three-step process in which petitioners must first submit a recall proposal bearing the signatures of 1 percent of voters in the original electoral district.
This is followed by the submission of a petition that has the signatures of 10 percent of the electorate.
Finally, a poll must be held in which the official would be recalled if at least 25 percent of eligible voters in the city vote in favor of a recall and a simple majority prevails.
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