TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Reports of identity misuse have emerged in the recall of DPP legislator Wang Mei-hui (王美惠).
The recall initiators have been discovered to have used the identity of a deceased individual, leading the family to take legal action. Additionally, another woman has accused them of misusing her personal information, per CNA.
Following the incidents, the Wang recall campaign chief organizer announced the suspension of the second-stage signature collection, even though they had already surpassed the first-stage threshold. A press conference will be held to confirm this decision.
A 65-year-old woman, surnamed Cheng (鄭), filed a lawsuit on Tuesday after discovering her identity had been misused in the recall. After receiving a confirmation letter from the Chiayi City Election Commission, she accused the recall leader of document forgery and other offenses.
Cheng said she remembered joining a political party more than 20 years ago but did not engage in activities or pay membership fees. She said she believes her personal information was exploited and hopes prosecutors will look into the matter.
Cheng’s lawyer, Chen Tse-chia (陳澤嘉), claimed the identity of a deceased woman had also been misused in the petition. The wife's husband filed a lawsuit last week.
Wang expressed outrage over the misuse of deceased individuals' names for signatures and condemned the current case of identity theft in petitions. She likened the misuse of personal data to fraudulent activity and called for it to be addressed.
The recall organizer denied any intention of identity misuse. He explained that once the signature lists were submitted, verifying the legitimacy of each name became impossible.
Chiayi City Election Commission deputy secretary-general Yang Chun-ming (楊俊銘) noted that while 44 verification forms were sent out, only four responses were received by the deadline. The commission is now cross-checking the data with other agencies and expects to report the results to the Central Election Commission by March 5.
