Print

Mail

wiki links

Yu to have his say on referendum

"We don't know exactly when we'll vote on the Cabinet's veto motion of the Referendum Law until Friday, but we'll definitely reach a final decision in 15 days."

Wang Jin-pyng, legislative speaker

Ending months of partisan squabbling, lawmakers across party lines yesterday agreed to invite Premier Yu Shyi-kun to deliver a report on Friday on the Cabinet's motion to overturn part of the just-passed Referendum Law (公民投票法) and to push through the special bill for the five-year, NT$500 billion public construction package to committees for review.

"We don't know exactly when we'll vote on the Cabinet's veto motion of the Referendum Law until Friday, but we'll definitely reach a final decision in 15 days," said Legislative speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平).

Wang made the remark yesterday morning after convening a closed-door cross-party negotiation to carve out the agenda for the two controversial bills.

The Constitution mandates that lawmakers have to reach a final decision within 15 days of receiving the Cabinet's veto request.

If lawmakers fail to do so before the deadline, the passed law or resolution automatically becomes invalid. The Cabinet sent its request on Dec. 10.

Lawmakers yesterday also decided to push through the draft amendments to the Constitution by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to the plenary legislative session.

The DPP wants to cut the number the legislative seats to 150 from 225 and introduce a single-member district, two-vote election system.

The DPP and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and People First Party (PFP) have been trying to win over independent lawmakers, who play a decisive role in the legislature.

To win, the DPP has to garner at least 112 votes. While the KMT and PFP have 112 seats in the legislature, the DPP and its tiny ally, the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU), account for 99 seats. There are 11 independents.

At issue is the legality of overturning certain articles instead of the entire law.

Opposition lawmakers also argued that the legislature has never before deliberated anything less than an article of a law. The 12 provisions the Cabinet plans to axe include sub-articles as well as articles.

In response to Cabinet plans to strip the legislature of its right to initiate national referendums, opposition lawmakers argued that it is legitimate for the lawmaking body to do so as 18 out of 22 foreign countries with referendum legislation authorize their parliaments to do so.

The Cabinet also plans to abolish the referendum review committee, the function of which, it argues, overlaps with that of the Central Election Commission.

The opposition camp, however, contended that the commission, which organizes elections, cannot substitute for the referendum review committee, which would screen referendum topics.

PFP Legislator Liu Wen-hsiung (劉文雄) said that he is "100 percent confident" that the pan-blue camp will prevail in the showdown vote.

"We've secured at least 112 votes, including three to four independent lawmakers," he said.

Echoing Liu, KMT legislative whip Lee Chia-chin (李嘉進) said that the caucus will not decide whether to endorse or reject the Cabinet's request until Friday.

"There are various possible outcomes. For example, we can return the Cabinet's request or ask them to overturn the entire legislation," he said.

DPP legislative leader Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) said that he is not sanguine about the success of the Cabinet's veto motion.

"However, we're certain that the public will have its say on the matter," he said.
This story has been viewed 2915 times.