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.
There are 77 incidents of Taiwanese travelers going missing in China between January last year and last month, the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) said. More than 40 remain unreachable, SEF Secretary-General Luo Wen-jia (羅文嘉) said on Friday. Most of the reachable people in the more than 30 other incidents were allegedly involved in fraud, while some had disappeared for personal reasons, Luo said. One of these people is Kuo Yu-hsuan (郭宇軒), a 22-year-old Taiwanese man from Kaohsiung who went missing while visiting China in August. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office last month said in a news statement that he was under investigation
‘JOINT SWORD’: Whatever President Lai says in his Double Ten speech, China would use it as a pretext to launch ‘punishment’ drills for his ‘separatist’ views, an official said China is likely to launch military drills this week near Taiwan, using President William Lai’s (賴清德) upcoming national day speech as a pretext to pressure the nation to accept its sovereignty claims, Taiwanese officials said. China in May launched “punishment” drills around Taiwan shortly after Lai’s inauguration, in what Beijing said was a response to “separatist acts,” sending heavily armed warplanes and staging mock attacks as state media denounced newly inaugurated Lai. The May drills were dubbed “Joint Sword — 2024A” and drew concerns from capitals, including Washington. Lai is to deliver a key speech on Thursday in front of the Presidential Office
An aviation jacket patch showing a Formosan black bear punching Winnie the Pooh has become popular overseas, including at an aviation festival held by the Japan Air Self-Defense Force at the Ashiya Airbase yesterday. The patch was designed last year by Taiwanese designer Hsu Fu-yu (徐福佑), who said that it was inspired by Taiwan’s countermeasures against frequent Chinese military aircraft incursions. The badge shows a Formosan black bear holding a Republic of China flag as it punches Winnie the Pooh — a reference to Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) — who is dressed in red and is holding a honey pot with
Celebrations marking Double Ten National Day are to begin in Taipei today before culminating in a fireworks display in Yunlin County on the night of Thursday next week. To start the celebrations, a concert is to be held at the Taipei Dome at 4pm today, featuring a lineup of award-winning singers, including Jody Chiang (江蕙), Samingad (紀曉君) and Huang Fei (黃妃), Taipei tourism bureau official Chueh Yu-ling (闕玉玲) told a news conference yesterday. School choirs, including the Pqwasan na Taoshan Choir and Hngzyang na Matui & Nahuy Children’s Choir, and the Ministry of National Defense Symphony Orchestra, flag presentation unit and choirs,