At the dawn of February 7th, the Central Election Commission (CEC) of the Republic of China reported that they had received a total of 35 recall petitions by 5 p.m. Among these petitions, 32 cases were for removing incumbent legislators, 1 case aimed at recalling a mayor, and 2 cases targeted local councilors.
The 11th Legislative Yuan of the Republic of China celebrated its first anniversary on February 1st, marking the commencement of a wave of recall initiatives led by civic groups. Former United Microelectronics Corporation founder, Cao Xingcheng, accompanied 18 volunteer groups advocating for recall as they submitted the initial round of petitions to the CEC. On that day, these civic groups collectively proposed recalling 19 Kuomintang legislators and the currently suspended Mayor of Hsinchu City, Ko Wen-je.
The recall proposals submitted by civic volunteers on the 3rd included several Kuomintang legislators such as Taipei City legislators Wang Hong-wei and Li Yanxiu; New Taipei City legislator Yeh Yuanzhi; Taoyuan City legislators Niu Xuting, Tu Quanji, Lu Mingzhe, Wan Meiling, Lu Yuling, and Qiu Ruohua; Hsinchu City legislator Zheng Zhengqian; Nantou County legislator You Hao; Taichung City legislators Yan Kuan-heng, Liao Weixiang, Huang Jianhao, and Luo Ting-wei; Yunlin County legislator Ting Hsueh-chung; Taitung County legislator Huang Jianbin; Hualien County legislator Fu Kun-chi, as well as the successful proposal to recall the suspended Mayor of Hsinchu City, Ko Wen-je.
According to regulations governing the recall of public officials, those who have been in office for less than a year are not subject to recall. On the 5th, the CEC received a submission from a youth group aligned with the blue camp led by Liu Si-yin, seeking to recall Democratic Progressive Party Taipei City legislator Wu Pei-yi. However, it was reported that the supplementary leader of the proposal, former Air Force Deputy Commander Zhang Yanting, who is registered in Wanhua for less than four months, did not meet the qualification criteria and the proposal was therefore returned. Liu Si-yin stated on the 8th that she received a notice of correction from the CEC on the 7th evening, acknowledging the issue.
In response to the latest number of recall petitions received, the CEC informed reporters on the evening of the 7th that as of 5 p.m., they had received a total of 35 recall petitions, of which 32 were for the recall of legislators, 1 for the recall of a mayor, and 2 for the recall of councilors. As these cases have entered the processing stage, the CEC declined to comment or provide further responses.
Furthermore, disputes arose when residents of Hualien reported that civil servants from the household registration office visited homes to inquire about the signing of recall petitions, leading to the “water meter checking” controversy. On the 6th, the Hualien County government acknowledged that the on-site verification conducted by civil servants had created a negative impression, and they pledged to review and improve the process.
The CEC clarified that the statutory responsibilities of the household registration authorities in assisting the local election commissions with verifying recall proposal lists do not extend to inquiring about individual signatures on the petition forms.
Emphasizing that even when the local election commissions send out inquiry forms, they must adhere to legal requirements before dispatching them and cannot do so arbitrarily, the CEC also stressed that inquiries should not be conducted via telephone or personal visits as substitutes.