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
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.
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.
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.
“Last week, hundreds of thousands came out to recall the mayor, setting a record in Taiwan,” Tsai said. “Mayor Han has said he does not care about the frosty cold of political polls, only about the warmth of popular sentiment. Hundreds of thousands taking to the streets, is this not the warmth of popular sentiment?”
Han responded by questioning who had attended the recall march.
“They could not get enough Kaohsiung residents to come out, so they even brought out foreigners and Hong Kong people, and those from outside districts to come and recall the Kaohsiung mayor,” he said. “This is not normal behaviour or the norm in a democracy, so you should correct those recall-Han groups to tell them they cannot do this – that is what a president should do.”
Aaron Yin, head of Wecare Kaohsiung, said that the initial stage for a recall vote required the support of 1 per cent of the city’s 2.28 million eligible voters, or around 22,800 signatures. Organisers of the submission collected 30,000 to ensure they would meet the threshold.
Once approved, campaigners would need to submit the signatures of 10 per cent of Kaohsiung’s voters, or at least 228,000 names, for the second stage of the process, he said.
As of November, Wecare claimed it had 300,000 people willing to sign a recall petition against Han. The earliest a recall referendum could be held is May or June, provided Han did not win the presidency.
If such a vote took place, at least 25 per cent of Kaohsiung’s voters would have to support it, Yin said.
“Recalls are rare in Taiwan because the difficulty is very high, especially in southern Taiwan, where we have never had this,” he said. “We can feel that the people of Kaohsiung are really angry.”
