Taipei: Recall votes determining the fate of up to 26 opposition Kuomintang (KMT) lawmakers are set to be held between July 10 and August 19, contingent on the recall proposals clearing the final hurdle later this month, Central Election Commission (CEC) head Lee Chin-yung announced on Thursday. Speaking at a legislative meeting, Lee confirmed that Taiwan’s top election body would convene on June 20 to decide whether these recall campaigns would advance to public votes.

According to Focus Taiwan, the date for such votes will fall on a Saturday within the specified period, following a statement issued by the CEC last week. The statement indicated that local election authorities are currently verifying second-stage petition signatures for recall initiatives targeting 31 KMT lawmakers, including Fu Kun-chi, Wang Hung-wei, and Hsu Chiao-hsin. Under Taiwan’s election laws, if a recall initiative passes the second stage, a vote must be conducted within 20 to 60 days of the CEC’s official confirmation.

In response to the potential recall votes, KMT Chairman Eric Chu announced on Wednesday that the party would enter “combat mode” and initiate a nationwide campaign to garner support for its lawmakers. The recall bids have been launched against 50 lawmakers-35 from the KMT and 15 from the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)-as well as Hsinchu Mayor Ann Kao and eight county and city councilors.

To advance beyond the first stage, petitioners are required to collect signatures from at least 1 percent of eligible voters in a constituency. In the second stage, this threshold increases to 10 percent. As of Thursday, the CEC determined that four proposals targeting KMT lawmakers did not gather enough second-stage signatures to move forward.

Meanwhile, most recall petitions targeting DPP lawmakers either failed to amass sufficient second-stage signatures before the 60-day deadline or remain ongoing. Four campaigns are still active within their signature collection periods.