Some of President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) nominees for the Examination Yuan may have difficulty obtaining the approval of the legislature during tomorrow’s plenary session, three Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus members said yesterday.
KMT caucus secretary-general Chang Sho-wen (張碩文) said four or five nominees had been blacklisted by the caucus, and that the caucus would continue to keep them under observation.
Chang said that Examination Yuan member Tsai Shih-yuan (蔡式淵) was one of the names on the list, but he did not reveal the others.
KMT Legislator Chen Chieh (陳杰) said Tsai was on his personal blacklist because of his poor attendance record and job performance as a member of the Examination Yuan.
KMT Legislator Kung Wen-chi (孔文吉) said nominee Wu Tai-cheng (吳泰成), who reportedly had an extramarital affair, should be scrutinized according to the same standard the caucus used when it rejected Control Yuan nominee Chen Yao-chang (陳耀昌) last Friday.
Chen Yao-chang was criticized by KMT Legislator Alex Fai (費鴻泰) during a question-and-answer session last week for allegedly having an affair and treating his wife with indifference.
Only 13 legislators voted for Chen Yao-chang, 44 short of the legal threshold.
The fate of the 19 Examination Yuan nominees has been the subject of intense media speculation after the pan-blue-controlled legislature’s surprise rejection of four Control Yuan nominees last Friday.
In a bid to smooth the path for the Examination Yuan nominees, Ma invited KMT legislators to the Presidential Office last Sunday for a talk.
Meanwhile, Chang confirmed yesterday that Presidential Office Secretary-General Chan Chun-po (詹春柏) had told KMT Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) during a meeting of senior KMT officials on Tuesday that “the party needed to ensure discipline” for its legislators who did not toe the party’s line on the Examination Yuan nominees.
But Wu had disagreed, saying such a move would be “unnecessary,” Chang said.
Two KMT legislators also voiced their disapproval of Chan’s discipline proposal yesterday.
KMT Legislator Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) said such a move would create an uproar among the party’s lawmakers.
KMT Legislator Chiu Yi (邱毅) called the idea of disciplining lawmakers “unconstitutional,” because it is the legislature’s constitutional authority to approve or disapprove the president’s nominees.
“The legislature is not obliged to accept all of the president’s nominees,” he said.
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