Battle may erupt over legislative speaker post

Who becomes the next legislative speaker is likely to become a key issue as President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) works to form his "cross-party alliance for national stabilization," a 120-member majority in the Legislative Yuan.

After the KMT's humiliating loss on Saturday, the party is not assured the legislative speaker post with its 68 seats in the lawmaking body.

The position is likely to become a bargaining chip as the DPP prepares for negotiations with other parties to form the cross-party alliance.

"Now that the president doesn't have to worry about losing his right to form the Cabinet, the battle for speaker is crucial for the three major parties to negotiate during the process of forming a majority alliance," said DPP lawmaker Hong Chi-chang (洪奇昌).

After winning 87 seats to become the biggest party in the legislature, some of the DPP's heavyweights have said the post should go to a DPP member.

If lawmakers from other parties are willing to join the president's proposed alliance, only the post of vice speaker would be open to them, DPP members say.

The DPP's Shen Fu-hsiung (沈富雄), Trong Chai (蔡同榮) and Hong have said they plan to run for the legislative speaker position.

Incumbent speaker and KMT member Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) is planning to seek re-election, and newly elected KMT legislator John Chang (章孝嚴) also wants to join the race.

But while lawmakers of all stripes were eyeing the position, the Presidential Office said yesterday that President Chen would rather consider all possibilities for cooperation than focus on just a single issue or post.

According to a presidential aide, the best scenario is that the DPP and TSU, with their combined 100 seats, work with a few KMT members to form a stable majority. Another possibility is an alliance with the KMT or People First Party (PFP).

"The worst situation is that the KMT remains allied with the PFP and the New Party to remain the majority in the Legislative Yuan" with 115 seats, the aide said.

Hong said the best option which President Chen may adopt is to negotiate with Wang to persuade at least 15 KMT lawmakers to join the president's alliance.

The second option includes two choices. The first is a DPP-KMT alliance that would give the pair a strong majority.

The other is an alliance with the PFP, which would mean cooperating with Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) and could be a potential threat in the 2004 presidential race.

"The worst situation," Hong said, "is that the `pan-blue alliance' continues to exist under Soong's coordination, due to his ambition of representing the three parties in the next presidential election."

The Presidential Office source said that formal negotiations between the Presidential Office, DPP leaders and opposition politicians have not yet begun.

Accompanied by staff and DPP lawmakers, Trong Chai has already visited KMT and independent lawmakers to seek their support.

But DPP lawmaker Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯) said the job of speaker should go to a DPP member, saying, "We cannot trust a KMT speaker any more, judging by the experience of the past 18 months."

Tsai noted that a speaker holds sway over procedures for legislative meetings. A DPP member would be more reliable than an opposition lawmaker, he said. "But we will respect the president's final decision because no matter who the speaker or vice speaker is, those posts are bargain chips for the president to use in discussions with opposition politicians."