Corrupt Politicians Undermine Taiwan's Democracy! CCP Proxy Politicians, Maliciously Increasing the Difficulty of Recalls!

The right of recall is one of the political participation rights guaranteed by the Constitution. However, just after the recall of Keelung Mayor Hsieh Kuo-liang (謝國樑), Kuomintang (KMT, 國民黨) legislators rushed to push forward amendments to the ‘Election and Recall Act’ (《選罷法》), maliciously raising the difficulty of recall procedures and making it hard for the people to exercise their right of recall! Civil society rejects the KMT’s attempts to forcefully amend the law; therefore, Citizen Congress Watch (CCW, 公民監督國會聯盟/公督盟) today joined with Taiwan’s major minor parties (the New Power Party (時代力量), Taiwan Statebuilding Party (台灣基進), Taiwan Green Party (台灣綠黨), Social Democratic Party (社會民主黨), and the Taiwan Obasang Political Equality Party  (小民參政歐巴桑聯盟)) to firmly oppose raising the difficulty of recalls with malicious intent and to defend the exercise of the citizens' right of recall!

CCW board member  Pan Wei-Yiu (潘威佑) stated, “In the past, the ‘Birdcage Recall Law’ with its high threshold was successfully pushed for reform in 2016, lowering the recall threshold and empowering citizens! However, after finally adapting to recall as one of the methods of citizen oversight in a democratic society, the KMT and Taiwan People's Party (TPP, 民眾黨) insist on raising the difficulty of recalls, cutting off the people’s right and bringing back the habit of democratic malpractice! For this reason, many minor progressive parties, who often disagree with the DPP on other issues, are willing to stand up today to warn that raising the difficulty of recalls with malicious intent will make it difficult for people to eliminate bad politicians. This is especially serious because there are no clear provisions in the ‘Law on the Exercise of Legislative Powers’ (《立法院職權行使法》) and the ‘Election and Recall Act’ regarding automatic disqualification for legislators sentenced to a fixed-term imprisonment. Moreover, when facing potential CCP agents hidden in democratic politics, after the passage of these amendments, the people will have no corresponding means of checks and balances! This will allow corrupt politicians to do as they please under the protection of ‘anti-democratic’ bills. This is very serious!”

CCW Executive Director Zhang Hong Lin (張宏林) stated, “The recall system was originally designed to account for the shortcomings of representative politics and ensure citizens’ complete political participation rights. Since implementing the new recall system in 2016, out of 24 recall cases, nearly 75% were unsuccessful. It’s not easy for the public to recall thousands of elected representatives, not to mention the result of this month’s recall case against Mayor Hsieh Kuo-liang. It shows that in the learning process of Taiwan’s citizens, the existing recall system allows public opinion to be reflected within the system and ensures society moves towards a rational and moderate direction. If the KMT and TPP insist on raising the difficulty of recalls and recklessly destroying our recall mechanism, they will force people to take to the streets to protest outside the system in a more intense manner. Therefore, CCW strongly urges KMT legislators to withdraw their proposal and not maliciously deprive the people of their right of recall! The TPP caucus should not aid and abet this wrongdoing; otherwise, they will naturally bear the political consequences!”

Reject Reckless Changes to the Recall System! Minor Parties Unite to Warn KMT and TPP Against Forcing Undemocratic Bills!

New Power Party Chairperson Wang Wan-Yu (王婉諭) stated, “The New Power Party emphasizes that ‘the right of recall is the people’s right to remove unqualified politicians, not a tool for partisan retaliation.’ We oppose the two main parties initiating retaliatory recalls, but we are even more against the KMT and TPP trying to raise the difficulty of recalls and confiscate the people’s right to recall! Looking back at the amendment history of the ‘Election and Recall Act,’ the current TPP caucus leader, Huang Kuo-Chang (黃國昌), strongly criticized the KMT in 2013 for complicating the recall process by requiring a copy of ID cards to avoid citizen oversight. Now, he contradicts himself. I do not believe that Taiwan should tolerate such shameless politicians who say one thing and do another.”　　

Wang Wan-Yu reiterated, “The right of recall exists to protect public interests and safeguard democratic values. It is also an important tool for the people to oversee politicians. We urge the KMT and TPP not to be obstinate in forcing the review of the ‘Election and Recall Act,’ raising the difficulty of recalls, and confiscating the people’s right of recall, or else civil society will take all possible actions to oppose this unreasonable amendment.”

Taiwan Statebuilding Party Chairperson Wang Sing-Huan (王興煥) emphasized, “The KMT intends to use amendments to the ‘Election and Recall Act’ to essentially confiscate the citizens’ right of recall, which is a destruction of substantive justice. Proposals concerning recall in the ‘Election and Recall Act’ must be comprehensively reviewed in terms of applicable targets, thresholds, and procedures, rather than being used to deplete and destroy the democratic system. From this legislative session onward, the KMT has never stopped passing legislation and amendments that go against the principles of democratic constitutionalism. The Blue and White parties (KMT and TPP respectively) are undermining substantive justice through procedural rules. When civil society is overwhelmed by this Blue-White chaos, the Taiwan Statebuilding Party believes it is time to rethink systemic reforms to comprehensively improve political agents’ national loyalty and democratic literacy.”

Social Democratic Party Convener Shu-Yung (徐雍) pointed out, "The Blue and White parties are deliberately raising the difficulty to recall, in an attempt to remove public oversight of legislators. This, along with other actions like blocking the approval of judicial appointments and adjusting the threshold for the Constitutional Court, is undermining the mechanisms that check the Legislative Yuan’s abuse of power in a democratic system. This will lead to Blue and White legislators recklessly pushing anti-democratic laws, opening the back door for China's invasion, and causing Taiwan's democracy to fall into irreversible decline. The Social Democratic Party emphasizes that Taiwan's democracy was won through the efforts of generations of democratic pioneers. The right to recall wasn't normalized until after 2016, and now, less than ten years later, the Legislative Yuan is once again trying to strip the people of their power. The Social Democratic Party calls on everyone to stand up, pay attention, and oppose these unjust laws of the Blue and White parties, to protect Taiwan’s democracy and freedom together."

Taiwan Obasang Political Equality Party Deputy Secretary-General Shen Pei-Ling (沈佩玲), stated, "In 2016, the Legislative Yuan finally returned power to the people by amending the ‘Election and Recall Act’ to break the cage of the restrictive recall threshold. Now, less than ten years later, political parties, for their own interests, are yet again trying to modify the recall thresholds and procedures. The Taiwan Obasang Political Equality Party stresses that any adjustments to the recall system involve the people's basic participatory rights and should not be altered lightly, as doing so would betray the democratic contract! Unfortunately, yesterday, before committee negotiations even took place, Legislative Speaker Daniel Han (韓國瑜) had already scheduled this afternoon's negotiations, reducing the committee process to mere formalities! The Taiwan Obasang Political Equality Party believes that whether from the perspective of reducing social divisions, concerns about procedural legitimacy, or the waste of social resources, forcing through the new version of the ‘Election and Recall Law’ will not benefit Taiwanese society."

Green Party (DPP) spokesperson Wang Yan-Han (王彥涵) stated, "KMT legislators are once again raising the recall threshold, showing disdain for what should be a legislative body governed by the people! In other democracies, contempt of congressional laws apply not only to officials or civilians under questioning, but also to the legislators themselves. However, when our lawmakers formulated the contempt of congressional law, they unilaterally expanded their own powers, leading to abuse, which has sparked public outrage and protests. Now, Blue and White legislators not only refuse to reflect on this, but KMT legislator Weng Hsiao-Ling (翁曉玲) has even turned her attention to the justices, ignoring practical considerations and attempting to paralyze the Constitutional Court by manipulating the 'statutory quorum' requirement. Raising the recall threshold again clearly prioritizes personal political interests over democratic rule of law! The Green Party calls on the Blue and White legislators to withdraw these highly politically controversial bills!"

Maliciously Obstructing The People's Recall Petitions: Three Arguments Exposing the Political Lies of the KMT and the TPP!

CCW board member  Pan Wei-Yiu (潘威佑), emphasized, "Under our democratic constitutional system, the people are in charge, and 'election, recall, initiative, and referendum' are participatory rights that every student can easily recite. These are key tools of direct democracy in our country. Therefore, not only the thresholds but also whether the procedures make it difficult for people to exercise their rights should be carefully discussed. Now, the KMT and TPP are claiming to 'maintain the fairness of recall petitions,' but CCW presents three arguments to expose their political lies! We urge the opposition parties not to stubbornly persist in stripping the people of their right to recall!"

First, the proposal reverses cause and effect, ignoring the existing election review mechanisms!

The proposed legal amendment is deliberately presenting the effect as the cause, with the ultimate goal of restricting the people's right to recall! According to the current ‘Regulations on the Proposal, Petition, and Verification of Recall Cases for Public Officials’ (《公職人員罷免案提議連署及查對作業辦法》), the Central Election Commission (CEC) requests the household registration offices to conduct verifications and publicly announces the number of invalid signatures. Therefore, this does not affect the fairness of the recall petitions. The true intentions behind this move are obvious to all!

Second, the issue of fraudulent signatures cannot be resolved, and it actually increases the risk of personal data leakage for the public!

In the past, KMT legislators, including the current Vice President Chiang Chi-Chen (江啟臣), and the current TPP caucus leader Huang Kuo-Chang (黃國昌), opposed requiring photocopies of ID cards during the signature stage of the ‘Referendum Act’ and the ‘Election and Recall Act’, deliberately creating procedural obstacles for the people. According to a report from the Legislative Yuan's Legal Affairs Bureau (立法院法制局), this requirement not only has limited effectiveness but also increases the risk of personal data leakage. The KMT caucus' justification for the legal amendment has thus collapsed under scrutiny!"

Third, changing the rules after the fact undermines the democratic political contract!

When voters cast their ballots, they are aware of the current legislators' term lengths and the recall procedures that follow. By voting, they establish a "democratic political contract" (民主政治契約) with the legislators. If, after being elected, the recall threshold is raised and applied to the current legislators, this could potentially violate Judicial Yuan Interpretation No. 499 (大法官釋字499號). Elected representatives should avoid involvement in proposals that concern their own interests. CCW believes that if the Election and Recall Act is to be amended, the focus should be on improving the petition process, utilizing technology to make it easier for the public to sign, and avoiding any self-serving issues. However, this amendment has seen no clear explanation from the opposition regarding its scope of application to the public!"

The Lack Of Removal Mechanism For Low-Quality Legislators Who Are Not Divided Into Districts Should Be a Priority For Legal Reform!

CCW Executive Director Zhang Hong Lin (張宏林) stated, "Elected representatives facing calls for recall should first reflect on themselves and actively communicate with voters, rather than stripping citizens of their means to check power. Especially as legislative representatives in a democracy, they should think critically about how to help the people realize 'direct democracy' (直接民主). However, under our current recall system, there is a lack of oversight and removal mechanisms for current legislators. There has been relevant discussion on this issue in the past, with the hope of making elected representatives more aligned with public opinion rather than party interests! CCW believes that 'case-by-case' (個案式) legal amendments not only lack legitimacy but also fail to provide comprehensive consideration of the system, affecting all parties involved. Such hasty amendments undoubtedly harm the development of democracy in Taiwan! If we truly want to discuss the recall system, we should prioritize reviewing and reflecting on the lack of citizen oversight mechanisms for non-district legislators!"

Key Points of This Press Conference: 

1. Firmly oppose raising the difficulty of recalls, which allows incompetent elected representatives to act recklessly. Call on the proposing legislators to withdraw the proposal immediately! 

2. Warn the KMT caucus not to stubbornly push forward undemocratic bills, and warn the TPP caucus not to become complicit in eroding democracy! 

3. Since the implementation of the current recall threshold, the recall system has proven to be stable. CCW presents three arguments to debunk the proposers' political lies! 

4. Maliciously complicating the recall petition process may increase the risk of public data leaks! Call on the proposing legislators not to selfishly break the democratic social contract! 

5. The current recall mechanism lacks an exit process for at-large legislators, which should be prioritized in amendment discussions!