The legislature’s Procedure Committee yesterday passed a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus-proposed bill aimed at establishing a protocol to regulate transfers of power for the period between presidential elections and their inaugurations.
The proposal is now listed on Friday’s legislative agenda. In the hope that the proposed bill could be passed before the current legislative session goes into recess next Wednesday, the DPP caucus yesterday said it would demand that the bill be put directly to a second reading during Friday’s plenary session and then be put to discussion, along with a similar proposal by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lu Hsueh-chang (呂學樟).
The DPP caucus’ version would stipulate that as soon as the Central Election Commission (CEC) announces an election result, the president-elect must establish an office to handle pre-inauguration matters. During the transitional period, officials from the central government should brief the -president-elect on their respective departments’ affairs, it added.
As for an incumbent who fails in a re-election bid, he or she must neither appoint nor transfer officials during the period between Election Day and the day she or he leaves office, it said. With the exception of those that have been passed by the legislature, all directives, budgets and policies that the president-elect deems controversial should be put on hold for the president-elect and vice president-elect to deal with after they assume office, it added.
The main difference between the DPP version and the KMT caucus’ version (which was later combined with the version proposed by Lu) was that the KMT caucus was of the opinion that a “handover committee” should be established within seven days of the CEC’s announcement of the election result. The KMT caucus’ version suggested that a committee head be appointed by the president-elect, while both the incumbent and the president-elect select five people each to serve as members of the committee.
The CEC’s decision earlier this year to merge next year’s presidential election and the legislative elections means the presidential vote, which was supposed to be held in March next year, will take place in January, creating an unprecedented four-month gap between the presidential election and the president-elect’s inauguration on May 20.
A number of academics have expressed concerns over the four-month transition period on issues such as whether there should be an en masse resignation of the Cabinet and whether the caretaker government would refrain from making major policy changes.
Additional reporting by CNA
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique