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Taiwan recall campaigners get referendum ball rolling against ‘runaway’ Kaohsiung mayor Han Kuo-yu
- A coalition formally submits a request for a vote on whether Han should be allowed to retain the city’s top job after agreeing to become the KMT’s presidential candidate
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Sarah Zhengin Beijing
With two weeks to go until Taiwan’s presidential election, a coalition of campaigners has begun the formal process of applying for a referendum to recall Kaohsiung mayor Han Kuo-yu, who launched a presidential run just months after taking the city’s top job.
The coalition – led by Wecare Kaohsiung, Citizens Mowing Action, and the Taiwan Statebuilding Party – formally submitted the signatures of 30,000 Kaohsiung registered voters to the Central Election Commission on Thursday, calling for Han to be removed from office just one year after his upset win the mayoral race.
Critics have labelled Han a “runaway mayor”, accusing him of abandoning the city to become the Kuomintang’s (KMT) candidate in the island’s presidential race.
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It follows rival marches in Kaohsiung for and against Han on Saturday.
Organisers of the recall march claimed that more than 500,000 people took to the streets to demand the populist mayor leave office, while Han supporters put their rally’s turnout at more than 300,000.
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Despite becoming the first KMT candidate to win the former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) stronghold of Kaohsiung, Han has been dogged by the runaway allegations during the campaign.
In the second televised policy address by presidential candidates on Wednesday, Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen said people turned out in record numbers to unseat the mayor.
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