Campaigners Submit 12 More Recall Petitions Against KMT Lawmakers

Campaigners have submitted 12 more recall petitions against opposition Kuomintang lawmakers, citing national security concerns and incompetence.

Transcript

00:00While President Lai tries to get the five branches of government on the same page,

00:04there were no signs of a let-up in political hostilities.

00:08Another batch of recall petitions were handed in even as the president held the meeting.

00:13Our reporter Tiffany Wang has more from outside the Central Election Commission in Taipei.

00:18Tiffany, what does this latest round of recall petitions signal?

00:21Well, just hours ago, we saw dozens of campaigners come here to the Central Election Commission

00:30to submit petitions to recall 12 opposition Kuomintang lawmakers, submitting tens of thousands

00:38of signatures that they hope will kick-start the process to get these elected officials

00:42out of office.

00:44And they had representatives from all over Taiwan come to voice their support for this

00:50movement.

00:51And they even came from here in the capital in Taipei to Taichung on the west coast, and

00:57even flying in from as far as the outlying islands of Jinmen, which are just three kilometers

01:02away from the coast of China.

01:05And some of the representatives stated that they were especially concerned about KMT lawmakers'

01:10connections to China and what that could mean for national security in Taiwan.

01:15It's not that we have hatred for minority legislators, or that we're helping the KMT

01:21win back the majority in Congress.

01:24It's just that we've all seen that the blue-and-white legislators in Congress all

01:29listen to Fu Kunqi, and Fu Kunqi listens directly to Wang Funing, the chairman of the

01:35Communist Party of China in Beijing.

01:40These 12 KMT lawmakers join a growing list of politicians in Taiwan facing recall campaigns.

01:48That number is now over 40 across party lines.

01:52And campaigners on both sides cite national security concerns as well as corruption concerns.

01:59And most recently we've even seen anger over budget cuts to the government's central

02:05budget.

02:06Those cuts were led by the KMT.

02:08And we saw another sort of statement by 200 writers who were angered over cuts to the

02:15Ministry of Culture.

02:17Now this is all part of growing chaos between the political parties and the branches of

02:22government in Taiwan.

02:23And this is just the latest battle in the fight for power in the legislature where no

02:28party holds a majority.

02:32And what's the next step for these recalls?

02:35Well, this is just the first round of signatures.

02:38There will be a second round of signature petitioning.

02:42If enough of those signatures are verified, then these officials will be officially put

02:48to a recall vote, which means that this year we could see potentially over 40 recall votes.

02:54And if all of those officials are successfully recalled, we could see 40 by-elections to

03:02replace them.

03:04Of course, that's still a long ways to go.

03:06And with President Lai's meeting earlier today, it's possible that we could see a

03:11cool-down to all these tensions brewing in the political atmosphere here.