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Legislature fails to pass recall motion

Pan-blue camp legislators display banners that read ``Shame on Chen's supporters'' yesterday before trying to pass a motion to recall President Chen Shui-bian. PHOTO: AP

President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) survived the first-ever presidential recall vote yesterday, when the 119 votes for the measure fell far short of the two-thirds majority needed to approve it.

The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the People First Party (PFP) had demanded their legislators attend yesterday's session and vote to recall, while the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus requested its 86 legislators not to vote. The DPP caucus walked out of the legislature before the vote to join a pro-Chen rally going on outside.

Before casting their ballots, KMT legislators chanted slogans, including "oppose corruption," "integrity protects Taiwan," "Step down A-bian [Chen's nickname]."

The 119 affirmative votes came from the 90 KMT legislators, 22 PFP legislators, six legislators of Non-Partisan Solidarity Union and Independent Legislator Li Ao (李敖).

The Taiwan Solidarity Union's (TSU) 12 lawmakers cast invalid votes by writing "abstention" on their ballots and displaying them before putting them in the box.

A pan-blue supporter dressed as a wolf holds up a placard that reads, ``If a wolf like Chen Shui-bian does not step down, we will continue to seek his ouster,'' outside the legislature yesterday before the recall vote. PHOTO: LIU HSIN-DE, TAIPEI TIMES

Independent legislators Lin Wei-chou (林為洲) and Peter Lin (林進興), both former DPP members, also cast invalid votes.

Because 148 votes were needed to pass the motion, Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) announced it had not passed.

Although the legislative speaker is supposed to remain neutral, Wang cast a "yes" vote. He said that as KMT member he he had to respect the KMT caucus' resolution.

Although the failure of the recall motion was a foregone conclusion, the DPP appeared buoyed by the result.

DPP Chairman Yu Shyi-kun urged the pan-blue camp to stop causing political conflicts and help pass bills concerning people's livelihood and economic development as soon as possible.

"It's a victory for people power. We hope that the end of the recall vote will also bring an end to political confrontation. It is time to do something meaningful for the people of Taiwan," Yu said.

He said he hoped to meet with KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and PFP Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) to discuss how to "rationally" pass the pending bills.

DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) said the conflicts and hostility between the governing and the opposition parties had worsened since Ma became KMT chairman and he called on Ma to take responsibility for stabilizing the political situation and Taiwan's economic development.

TSU Chairman Shu Ching-chiang (蘇進強) said his lawmakers' invalid ballots proved the party did not always back the DPP because "the TSU sides with the people of Taiwan, not the DPP."

Ma told a news conference at KMT headquarters after the vote that the opposition had been defeated by an "unrepentant" DPP which has lost its core values.

"History will remember this day. Today is a day of humiliation. The recall rights of 23 million people have been deprived by a party which claimed to be incorruptible, hardworking and patriotic," he said.

He condemned the DPP boycott.

"[DPP legislators] opposed the recall of a corrupt president ? but they lacked the courage to cast negative votes. It's stunning to see a party become so depraved," he said.

If the victory belongs to "those who lied, enjoyed privileges and are corrupt," the KMT would rather be the loser, Ma said.

"This is a choice between right and wrong. We need to stand up for what's right," he said.

Ma said the TSU's actions showed it was trying to draw a distinct line between itself and the DPP.

He said that the TSU's move, coupled with former president Lee Teng-hui's (李登輝) recent remarks against Chen, showed the falseness of the DPP's claims to be defending a "localized government" against efforts to recall it.

"Doesn't former president Lee represent localized power? Isn't the TSU part of the localized power? They support localized power but not corruption," Ma said.

While acknowledging that the recall motion had created confrontations between political parties as well as ethnic groups, he denied the motion had created social unrest.

"Social instability has been created by the first family's corrupt practices... I don't see any social turmoil," he said in response to questions about the street protests for and against Chen.

Saying the president had angered the people with his corruption and incompetence, Ma said political struggles and ethnic confrontations were the price that had to be paid for Taiwan to seek its core values. He urged the DPP to stop triggering political clashes with its "localized power" ideology.

He also rejected Yu's offer of a meeting, saying the KMT has been cooperating with the government in the legislature.

"The cooperation is right there. We passed 75 bills during the last legislative session ? It's more important for the DPP to clean its own house than meet with opposition parties," he said.

Soong said what happened in the legislature showed that pan-green lawmakers "have been forced to distance themselves from a corrupt president."

He said the pan-green legislators hadn't voted against the recall motion because they were afraid of endorsing the president.

"Except for the 14 invalid votes, half the legislators voted to recall the president. However, the recall motion failed anyway. That is Taiwan's democratic miracle," Soong said.

Meanwhile, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesman Michel Lu (呂慶龍) said the recall motion had attracted international attention but most countries had expressed respect for the procedure to avoid interfering in Taiwan's internal affairs.

Lu said as long as the recall vote and the demonstrations ended peacefully, it would prove Taiwan's democracy was still strong.

He said the ministry would send telegraphs to its embassies and representative offices about the vote's result and advise diplomats to make appropriate explanations to their host governments.

Additional reporting by Shih Hsiu-chuan and Chang Yun-ping
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