Chen Po-wei
Chen Po-wei is a Taiwanese politician. He was the first ever Taiwan Statebuilding Party candidate to be elected to the Legislative Yuan, defeating Kuomintang incumbent Yen Kuan-heng in the 2020 Taiwanese legislative election. In October 2021, Chen became the first member of the Legislative Yuan to lose his office via a successful recall election.
Early career
Chen worked in the film industry before pursuing political office. He studied at the National University of Kaohsiung.Political career
Chen began his political career by running for a seat on the Kaohsiung City Council. After losing that election, he moved from Kaohsiung. Chen served as the spokesperson for the Taiwan Statebuilding Party and supported a recall movement against Kaohsiung City Mayor Han Kuo-yu. Throughout his political career, he has been a vocal supporter of Taiwan independence.In the 2020 legislative elections, Chen defeated Kuomintang incumbent Yen Kuan-heng in the Taichung City Constituency II becoming the first Taiwan Statebuilding Party legislator. His candidacy was supported by the Democratic Progressive Party and filmmaker Wu Nien-jen.
In late 2020, Chen stood with Democratic Progressive Party to support the import of American pork with ractopamine.
A proposal to recall Chen from office collected 3,744 valid signatures by 5 March 2021,
and 36,073 valid signatures by 2 July 2021, prompting the Central Election Commission to tentatively schedule a recall election for 28 August, the same date as the originally scheduled 2021 Taiwanese referendum. Due to effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in Taiwan, the CEC announced on 16 July 2021 that would be postponed to 23 October 2021. A week before the recall vote, groups supporting Chen participated in a march starting at Zushi Temple in Qingshui. Chen became the first Taiwanese member of the Legislative Yuan to be successfully recalled, ending his term less than two years into office. Votes for Chen's recall numbered 77,899, against 73,433 opposing his recall. Votes supporting the recall topped 25% of the eligible electorate, with 51.72 percent voter turnout. Per Article 92 of the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act, Chen will be ineligible to run for the Legislative Yuan in Taichung's second district for the next four years.
Chen was officially dismissed from the Legislative Yuan on 28 October 2021. Lin Ching-yi ran to succeed Chen, and he was secretary-general of her legislative campaign. In July 2022, Chen left the Taiwan Statebuilding Party, and joined the Taichung mayoral campaign of Democratic Progressive Party candidate Tsai Chi-chang.