KMT caucus recommends that rebels be expelled for voting against party's line

The KMT legislative caucus yesterday recommended that the party expel 10 legislators who voted for nominees for top government positions on Thursday and Friday in defiance of the caucus' order to boycott the ballots.

KMT Chairman Lien Chan (連戰), who yesterday returned from a two-week trip to the US, promised that the party would deal with the rebels as soon as possible, saying it was regrettable that some "unqualified people" won confirmation for their appointments.

On Thursday, a nominee for grand justice won confirmation even though the KMT's caucus ordered its members not to vote. Four nominees for positions in the Control Yuan and another grand justice nominee were voted down.

On Friday, the legislature confirmed the appointment of former DPP chairman Yao Chia-wen (姚嘉文) as Examination Yuan president and 19 others as Examination Yuan members.

The KMT caucus had ordered its members to boycott the vote for Yao and eight of the other nominees. The nominee for vice president of the Examination Yuan was voted down.

"We will examine the disobedient conduct of these legislators and deal with them as soon as possible according to the rules and discipline of the party," Lien said.

According to the list submitted by the KMT caucus, those subject to expulsion include Lu Shin-ming (呂新民), Lin Pin-kuan (林炳坤), Chen Chin-ting (陳進丁), Yang Wen-hsin (楊文欣), Lin Chin-chun (林進春), Lin Nan-sheng (林南生), Tseng Hua-te (曾華德), Yang Jen-fu (楊仁福), Liao Kuo-tung (廖國棟) and Chen Ken-te (陳根德).

Caucus whip Lin Yi-shih (林益世) explained that the expulsion was recommended in accordance with a decision reached by the caucus before the ballots, namely that "anyone who casts their votes will be expelled."

Still, it is uncertain whether the lawmakers will be expelled, as the caucus also suggested that the party take into account the severity of their violations when handing down punishments, Lin said.

For example, Tseng, Yang, Liao and Chen Ken-te, who voted for grand justices and Control Yuan members on Thursday, heeded the party's advice and did not go to Friday's ballot for Examination Yuan president, Lin said.

Chen Kang-chin (陳庚金), director-general of the Evaluation and Discipline Committee, said his committee will decide today when to meet to discipline the legislators.

Chen said the committee will handle these latest cases of disobedience together with others that occurred previously in the just-ended legislative session.

The KMT has threatened disciplinary action on five occasions in the session.

In addition to the three ballots taking place on Thursday and Friday, these include the Feb. 1 elections for Legislative Yuan speaker and vice speaker and the Feb. 19 ballot on overturning the KMT-proposed amendments to the Law Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures (財政收支劃分法).

KMT Secretary-general Lin Fong-cheng (林豐正) said the party will certainly deal with the rebels this time because it was a chance for the party to "start anew."

Lin reiterated that the the party was more concerned about unity that it was about the number of legislators.

The KMT holds 68 seats in the legislature and is able to control a slim majority in the 224-seat chamber by allying with the PFP, which has 46 seats.

Lin said the ballots had allowed the KMT to identify who was vulnerable to the DPP's "temptation" and who was not.