Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu says he will not file a lawsuit to dispute the validity of the recall election vote. Han made the statement in a Facebook post on Tuesday.
The mayor was recalled last Saturday in a historic first for Taiwan. Over 939,000 Kaohsiung residents voted in favor of recalling him. That was well above the threshold of 575,000 votes required for his ouster. Only about 25,000 voters voted against recalling the mayor.
A Kaohsiung city official said on Tuesday the mayor made the decision to end confrontations between Han’s supporters and opponents.
According to the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act, Han will be removed from office by Friday. He is barred from running for Kaohsiung mayor in the next four years.
The Cabinet will appoint an acting mayor as soon as possible and the city will hold a by-election by September 12.