TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) reiterated its position on controversial amendments to the Public Officials Election and Recall Act during a press conference on Wednesday (Nov. 20), supporting the inclusion of identification requirements during the petition phase of recall elections and opposing raising the bar for the recall election to pass.
The Legislative Yuan’s Internal Administration Committee is reviewing the proposed changes, which include two key amendments: one requiring the collection of identification during the petition phase, and the other stipulating that the "yes" votes in a recall election must exceed the number of votes the recalled official received in the previous election, per CNA.
As a crucial minority party courted by both the Kuomintang (KMT) and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), the TPP used the opportunity to clarify its position. Citing a poll commissioned by the party, TPP Legislator Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) revealed that 63.9% of the public support the ID requirement, while 28.5% oppose it.
Meanwhile, 51.4% favor raising the threshold for a recall to pass, while 41.7% are against the change. Though the TPP supports the ID requirement, Huang emphasized the party remains opposed to making the recall process more difficult.
TPP Legislator Mai Yu-chen (麥玉珍) suggested that the ease of collecting signatures for recall petitions has led to their misuse as political tools. The TPP therefore supports ID verification to curb fraud but stands against raising the threshold for recall election success.
In response, DPP Legislator Shen Pao-yang (沈伯洋) accused the TPP of using polls to avoid directly addressing whether they support the KMT’s attempt to raise the bar for recall elections. Shen criticized the poll for leading respondents by implying that ID requirements would resolve issues of fraudulent signatures, per Liberty Times Net.
Shen also raised concerns about the potential privacy implications of providing identification for recall petitions, warning that it could intimidate the public and dissuade them from signing.
