Pan-blue lawmakers sink prosecutor's nomination

The opposition parties yesterday vetoed the president's nominee for the nation's top prosecutor by a margin of only four votes.

President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) had selected Hsieh Wen-ding (謝文定) for state public prosecutor-general, a position that requires the consent of the legislature. But the pan-blue camp used its legislative muscle to scuttle the nomination.

Claiming that "Hsieh has a strong partisan character," the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) declared on Monday that it would veto Hsieh's appointment. But gathering an adequate number of pan-blue votes to defeat Hsieh's nomination was not guaranteed, until the People First Party (PFP) made the same resolution yesterday morning after a lengthy caucus meeting.

To make Hsieh's nomination effective, at least one-third of sitting legislators had to participate in the vote, and a simple majority of those voting had to vote in favor of the nomination, according to the Law Governing Legislators' Exercise of Power (立法院職權行使法).

Currently, 221 of the legislature's 225 seats are filled. In yesterday's poll, 208 legislators voted. Of these, 101 voted to approve Hsieh's appointment, while 19 voted against it and 88 cast blank votes, which is effectively the same as casting a "no" vote.

Hsieh needed at least 105 "yes" votes to be approved.

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus whip Chen Chin-jun (陳景竣) and Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) caucus whip David Huang (黃適卓) said that all 86 DPP legislators and 11 TSU legislators voted to approve Hsieh.

This would mean that Hsieh received four "yes" votes from pan-blue or independent lawmakers. Although it was not clear how lawmakers voted, as the vote was conducted by secret ballot, the identity of the supposed "renegade" lawmakers was the source of considerable media speculation.

Except for Independent Legislator May Chin (高金素梅), the members of the Non-Partisan Solidarity Union did not attend the voting.

The identity of one of the renegades appeared to be confirmed as PFP Legislator Shen Chih-huei (沈智慧), who said she disagreed with the pan-blue camp's boycott of Hsieh, which she described as interfering with justice for political reasons. Shen displayed her "yes" vote when she cast the ballot.

This would still leave three unknown Hsieh supporters.

Many in the DPP criticized the pan-blues for their action.

"[KMT and PFP lawmakers] received ballots, yet intentionally surrendered their voting rights. They even assembled a crowd to riot outside the legislature. They want a state public prosecutor-general who is partisan," said DPP caucus whip Yeh Yi-jin (葉宜津)

She added that she felt sorry that PFP Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) had capitulated to protesters led by a TV talk-show host, who had threatened to "obliterate Soong from the world" if the PFP caucus supported Hsieh's appointment.

Hsieh yesterday said he respected the legislature's decision and that he

would not accept another nomination.

“As one of the nation's top prosecutors, I cannot court political parties

and lawmakers to win a position. I must stay away from politics,” Hsieh

said at a press conference yesterday.

The Ministry of Justice yesterday said it would discipline the prosecutor

Lee for leading a political rally.

The Presidential Office yesterday expressed regret over the legislature's

rejection of Hsieh, saying the confirmation process was full of strong