Lee warns of legislative rift

Former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) yesterday warned that the result of last Friday's elections for the Legislative Yuan's speaker and vice speaker will disturb the harmony of the legislature.

Lee said that the elections showed that legislators did not abide by "the ethics of the legislature" and that such a lack of ethics would foresee a legislature full of controversies.

He made the comments during a meeting with reporters in Kaohsiung.

On Friday, freshman KMT lawmaker Chiang Ping-kun (江丙坤) was elected vice speaker, thanks to the PFP's help. The PFP had urged his nomination and gave all of its 45 votes to the former economic official.

Chiang beat DPP standard-bearer Hong Chi-chang (洪奇昌) -- a five-term legislator and the party's most senior lawmaker -- 115 to 106 during the second round of balloting.

The KMT's Wang Jin-pyng (王金平), the most senior lawmaker now in his ninth term, scored a landslide victory in his bid for re-election as legislative speaker.

Lee said that the election results were not so important given that the pan-blue force's seats in the legislature outnumber that of the pan-green camp.

What needs to be considered, said Lee, is how the result will affect the country's political development.

Lee said he was supportive of Wang on the grounds that the KMT legislator was the most suitable candidate to maintain a harmonious legislature, given his abundant experience.

But he said that the result of the vice-speaker election shows that lawmakers did not act according to legislative ethics -- namely that they did not show respect for seniority.

Chiang is a freshman, while Hong is the most senior DPP legislator.

Lee also brushed aside rumors that he had intervened in the formation of the new Cabinet, insisting that he never recommended anyone to President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and that Chen had never consulted him on the matter.

During the Cabinet reshuffle last month, there were reports that up to six people gained positions because of their close ties to Lee.

The former president began a three-day visit to Kaohsiung yesterday to promulgate his ideas to his supporters in the south.

In the afternoon he attended the opening ceremony of the Friends of Lee Teng-hui Association in Kaohsiung.