The New Party announced on June 10 that it has formally launched a recall of Legislator Chen Po-wei. It called Chen's lawmaking abilities into question and asked why he frequently traveled to Kaohsiung to promote the recall of Han Kuo-yu when his constituency is Taichung.
Let's fire Q. Everyone support the recall!
Kaohsiung City Mayor Han Kuo-yu was recalled recently, and this may not be the last recall. The New Party held a press conference on June 10 to announce it has initiated the procedures to recall Legislator Chen Po-wei. New Party member Wang Ping-chung likened Chen's performance on the Foreign and National Defense Committee to that of an idiot, and questioned why he frequently traveled to Kaohsiung to support the recall of Han when his constituency is Taichung. The New Party has followed the recall criteria set by the Central Election Commission for Han, which allow for recalls to be initiated for elected officials who have served under one year.
The first reason we have today is idiocy. It's as simple as that. He is a legislator who has neglected his duties and is a complete idiot. What we learned from the Central Election Commission's approval of the certification of the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Justice's facilitation of the entire process is that the promotion of a recall can be initiated against any political figure who has been in office for two months.
In response, Chen dismissed the news as empty words without actions at this stage and said there's no need to waste time discussing it because there's no real effect.
It's a small party that allied itself with the Chinese Communist Party in the past. Now it is taking the lead in the recall. The Kuomintang won't be happy to see this. It's an honor for me that someone cultivated by the Chinese Communist Party and calling themselves Chinese people wants to recall me.
Meanwhile, Interior Minister Hsu Kuo-yung said past recalls, including ones related to the fourth nuclear power plant, were all initiated by citizens. Based on Taiwan's democratic development, it would be hard for any recall not initiated by citizens to succeed.
Do you believe reprisal recalls can succeed? Recalls are hard work, and one initiated by a political party will not succeed.
The Civil Servants Election and Recall Act was amended in 2016 to lower the recall threshold. For the proposal of a recall, the number of proposers was required to be not less than one percent of the total electors. For the establishment of a proposal of a recall, the number of signers was required to be not less than 10 percent of total electors. For the voting and ballot counting of a recall, the number of consenters was required to be at least one-fourth of the total electors. In 2020, Chen received 112,000 votes to become a legislator. His constituency is Taichung's second legislative district. He will be recalled if one-fourth of the population of that district, or around 70,000 people, vote yes to his recall.