The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday requested an injunction and constitutional interpretation of an amendment to the Public Officials Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法) that took effect yesterday after President William Lai’s (賴清德) promulgation on Tuesday.
It is unconstitutional to require people initiating or signing a recall petition to provide photocopies of their identification cards when submitting petition signatures, which amendments to the recall act make compulsory, DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) said.
People risk being put in jail if they are not careful enough when exercising their basic human rights, he added.
Photo: Yang Kuo-wen, Taipei Times
The new law includes punitive measures, stipulating that anyone found guilty of using someone else’s identification or forging an ID for a recall petition could face up to five years in prison or a fine of up to NT$1 million (US$30,496).
Article 17 of the Constitution gives people “the right of election, recall, initiative and referendum,” while Article 22 guarantees Taiwanese “all the freedoms and rights that are not detrimental to social order or public welfare,” Ker said.
He said the DPP’s request is to seek remedy and maintain constitutional order, as “no political parties or single person can stand on the opposite side of the Constitution.”
However, the newly amended Constitutional Court Procedure Act (憲法訴訟法) mandates that a minimum of 10 grand justices must hear and rule on a case, and that a ruling that something is unconstitutional must be supported by at least nine justices.
The court currently only has eight grand justices, as the Legislative Yuan rejected the seven nominees put forward by Lai in December last year.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅?萁) yesterday said a ruling would be illegal, as there are not enough grand justices.
The amendments, proposed by KMT legislators and backed by the Taiwan People’s Party, were passed on Dec. 20 last year.
The Cabinet on Jan. 24 requested the legislature to reconsider the amendments based on the provisions of the Constitution, saying it would be difficult to execute.
However, the Legislative Yuan on Tuesday last week voted to uphold the new legislation and sent it to the Presidential Office a day later.
The Ministry of the Interior (MOI) said it deeply regrets that it would be almost impossible to initiate a recall petition in the future, as the newly amended law would raise the threshold, and restrict the public’s right to recall elected politicians.
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