The recall vote against Keelung Mayor George Hsieh (謝國樑) on Sunday would need 77,700 votes, or one quarter of all eligible voters in Hsieh’s constituency, to be successful, Central Election Committee (CEC) Deputy Chairman Chen Chao-chien (陳朝建) said on Wednesday.
If votes against the recall exceed the number of supporting votes, or if the total votes fail to reach the threshold, the recall would be considered a failure, Chen said, citing Article 90 of the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法).
The CEC issued a reminder that on voting day, government organizations, political parties and individuals — including the official under recall and those launching the recall campaign — cannot hold or participate in activities promoting the recall.
Photo: Lu Hsien-hsiu, Taipei Times
Separately, people on Tuesday said online that the Jhongjheng District (中正) office in Keelung allegedly contravened the recall act by including flyers urging people to vote against the recall in its distribution of cash and gifts for the Double Ninth Festival — a holiday observed on the ninth day of the ninth month of the lunar calendar. Civic groups that launched the recall against Hsieh also showed photographs of anti-recall volunteers distributing flyers at the gift handout location.
Hsieh’s party, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), reported the post on Tuesday as contravening the recall act.
The Keelung District Prosecutors’ Office on Wednesday said that it had dispatched prosecutors to investigate.
No one should ask, bribe or offer illegal benefits to voters, to compel them to abstain or vote for certain causes, the office said, adding that using words, pictures, records, videos or speeches to spread rumors or make baseless statements to support or campaign against the recall is strictly forbidden.
An undersea cable to Penghu County has been severed, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said today, with a Chinese-funded ship suspected of being responsible. It comes just a month after a Chinese ship was suspected of severing an undersea cable north of Keelung Harbor. The National Communications and Cyber Security Center received a report at 3:03am today from Chunghwa Telecom that the No. 3 cable from Taiwan to Penghu was severed 14.7km off the coast of Tainan, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) upon receiving a report from Chunghwa Telecom began to monitor the Togolese-flagged Hong Tai (宏泰)
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
RISING TOURISM: A survey showed that tourist visits increased by 35 percent last year, while newly created attractions contributed almost half of the growth Changhua County’s Lukang Old Street (鹿港老街) and its surrounding historical area clinched first place among Taiwan’s most successful tourist attractions last year, while no location in eastern Taiwan achieved a spot in the top 20 list, the Tourism Administration said. The listing was created by the Tourism Administration’s Forward-looking Tourism Policy Research office. Last year, the Lukang Old Street and its surrounding area had 17.3 million visitors, more than the 16 million visitors for the Wenhua Road Night Market (文化路夜市) in Chiayi City and 14.5 million visitors at Tainan’s Anping (安平) historical area, it said. The Taipei 101 skyscraper and its environs —
Taiwan on Friday said a New Zealand hamburger restaurant has apologized for a racist remark to a Taiwanese customer after reports that it had first apologized to China sparked outrage in Taiwan. An image posted on Threads by a Taiwanese who ate at Fergburger in Queenstown showed that their receipt dated Sunday last week included the words “Ching Chang,” a racial slur. The Chinese Consulate-General in Christchurch in a statement on Thursday said it had received and accepted an apology from the restaurant over the incident. The comment triggered an online furor among Taiwanese who saw it as an insult to the
RSS