Constitutional woes `liable to continue'

People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) yesterday unveiled his plan to invite political leaders and constitutional law experts to a meeting after the Dec. 1 polls to seek a solution to a possible "constitutional crisis."

Responding to Soong's plan, KMT officials said the outcome of the polls should decide which party initiates such a meeting.

The DPP, meanwhile, said it would only decide whether to attend the meeting after it has received an invitation.

Soong said the crisis might occur because the nation's constitutional framework has become unbalanced after several rounds of amendments during Lee Teng-hui's (李登輝) presidency.

Those amendments have allowed the president to become too powerful, while the premier, who is constitutionally the top executive of the government, is powerless, Soong said.

Soong suggested that under Taiwan's constitutional framework, the president should be prepared to "share power" with others and establish a "constitutional convention" in which the majority party in the legislature is allowed to lead the formation of the Cabinet.

"Political instability will continue if President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) refuses to surrender his power to form the Cabinet, despite the new Cabinet's failure to win sufficient support from the legislature," Soong said.

Soong said the meeting will be aimed at establishing a feasible constitutional practice, as launching constitutional reform is almost impossible because of the amount of support required.

He said the proposal should not be mistaken as an attempt to "usurp power" or conduct "political blackmail."

Elaborating on Soong's remarks, PFP spokesman Hsieh Kung-ping (謝公秉) said a new bout of political turmoil is likely to occur in the months following the polls.

Hsieh said that, as the KMT would no longer hold over half of the legislative seats in the new legislature, it might take advantage of its majority status in the current legislature to launch a no-confidence vote against Premier Chang Chun-hsiung's (張俊雄) Cabinet to force another legislative election.

According to the Constitution, a no-confidence vote against the premier can be passed if it is approved by more than one-half of the lawmakers.

After such a vote is passed, the premier is expected to tender his resignation within 10 days and may request the president dissolve the legislature.