Parties respond to Justices' ruling

National Assembly delegates regrouped yesterday in the wake of a ruling by the Council of Grand Justices on Friday. A decision about whether to take any action against the ruling is pending an inter-party agreement.

Neither the KMT nor the DPP is satisfied with a ruling by the Council of Grand Justices, released Friday, that finds the assembly's September constitutional amendment, by which it extended their terms by two years, invalid.

Alex Tsai (蔡正元), chief secretary of the KMT caucus in the National Assembly, said yesterday that it would consider the DPP's proposal to convene a provisional Constitution-amendment meeting.

"Many KMT and independent NA deputies believe that last September's constitutional amendment was not in vain," Tsai said.

The Assembly has the power to force President Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) to call for a provisional meeting through petition and, according to National Assembly delegates, they already have sufficient support to push through such a petition.

To force the president to call the provisional meeting, the petition needs the signatures of two-fifths of the assembly's 334 deputies.

But the DPP cannot act on its own and must rely on the KMT, which still holds a majority in the Assembly.

DPP secretary-general Yu Shyi-kun said yesterday that the post-election reshuffle of KMT leaders was making it difficult for the DPP to find counterparts appropriate for negotiations.

The KMT's acting party chairman Lien Chan's (連戰) stance on the issue has been ambiguous, but if it came to a re-election the KMT is well-prepared, he said.

The Central Election Committee has set a preliminary date for a new National Assembly election for May 6. It is believed that the situation in the National Assembly after the election will become more complex.

When asked whether the party will take a strategy of nominating high-ranking administrative officials, as outgoing party secretary-general Huang Kun-hui (黃昆輝) and his successor Lin Fong-cheng (林豐正) have suggested, Lien said that "this is will be considered."

On the other hand, the DPP will not decide nomination matters until Wednesday's central standing committee meeting, local media reported.

"It can be foreseen that there will be three major forces within the new NA: the DPP, KMT, and James Soong's (宋楚瑜) new People First Party (親民黨). Cooperation between any two parties is unlikely to dominate in constitutional amendment, which can only be passed on a three-quarter majority," said Wu Tung-yeh (吳東野), a political analyst at National Chengchi University.

The DPP may take advantage of the momentum from the presidential election triumph to grab seats in the National Assembly; and Soong's party may also perform well, for although his party is not very well organized, he is still riding a wave of popularity.