The interparty negotiation on the Constitutional amendment for legislative downsizing broke down yesterday amid the pan-blue camp's attempt to include new articles, causing the Taiwan Solidarity Union's (TSU) to withdraw from the negotiation.
The negotiation was meant to obtain unanimous agreement from all legislative caucuses to pass a constitutional amendment to halve the number of legislative seats. Every caucus has in the past said that it supports downsizing.
PHOTO: LUO PEI-TE, TAIPEI TIMES
The Taiwan Solidarity Union said that instead of just approving the downsizing article, the pan-blue camp tried to include extra amendments to allow a South Korean-style presidential impeachment clause during the negotiation, in an obvious attempt to subvert the current administration. To protest the pan-blue alliance's conduct, the TSU declared that they would not attend the Constitutional Amendment Committee or future negotiations regarding the Constitutional amendment if negotiations could not focus on downsizing alone.
TSU caucus whip Chen Chien-ming (陳建銘) explained that the impeachment regulation added by the pan-blue camp stated that when the legislature passed a bill to impeach the president, the president would be immediately suspended. If the Constitutional court decided that the president should be impeached, then he would be relieved of his duty at once, Chen said.
"We thought today's negotiation was supposed to focus on the previously agreed article, yet the pan-blue camp tried to slip an extra article about presidential impeachment into the amendment," Chen said.
The TSU also said that it would insist on writing a new constitution, which would rectify Taiwan's name and territory by 2006.
"We absolutely support downsizing, but we think that changes to related issues such as `single-member district' should be regulated in the law, instead of the Constitution, since electoral systems are changeable," TSU caucus whip Chen Chien-ming (陳建銘) said.
"[Legislative Speaker] Wang Jin-pyng [
"The TSU cannot accept this, and we will withdraw from the Constitutional Amendment Committee. We propose writing a new constitution instead, in 2006," Lo said. Lo also added that the TSU would withdraw from further negotiations on the Constitutional amendment if the other caucuses could not simply focus on downsizing.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus whip Legislator Liao Feng-te (
"If the TSU has problems with the contents of the bill, then it can voice its opposition during the negotiation hosted by the legislative speaker. And if they insist on writing a new constitution, then we can simply vote on the amendment in the sitting. After all, the TSU only takes up less than one quarter of the seats in the legislature," Liao said.
Meanwhile, Wang stressed that he did not support downsizing, but rather an amendment bill that is agreed on by all caucuses.
"The caucuses have had the issue of downsizing in mind, and I am helping to push through an amendment that is agreed to by all caucuses. But I don't want to see an amendment which appeals to populism only," Wang said. "The DPP may think that the KMT is trying to manipulate the amendment to its own advantages, but people should not be so narrow-minded. There shouldn't be any excuse to argue about it."
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