Legislators from the two main camps yesterday argued about whether Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) should attend President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) inauguration ceremony on May 20, and one pan-blue legislator even suggested that Wang should act as the president from that day pending resolution of disputes over Chen's re-election.
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the People First Party (PFP) have said that they would not attend the ceremony, and both party chairmen will stay away.
But Wang, who is also a KMT vice chairman, said two days ago that according to the law, the legislative speaker needs to be present at the ceremony.
The pan-blue legislators argued yesterday that since the election disputes were likely to remain unsolved by May 20, it would be inappropriate for Wang to attend the ceremony.
"Even the US has not confirmed the result of our presidential election, and if the recount does not finish before May 20, Wang should be able to avoid the ceremony and send Deputy Speaker Chiang Pin-kung (
KMT Legislator Liu Cheng-hung (
"The result of the presidential election is not confirmed yet, and Wang should act as the president from May 20 according to the Constitution," Liu said.
The PFP caucus agreed that Wang should not attend.
PFP caucus whip Hsieh Chang-chieh (謝章捷) said that as long as the courts were deliberating lawsuits the pan-blue camp has filed disputing the election, he would counsel Wang against attending the "illegal" inauguration ceremony.
The DPP caucus pointed out that according to regulations, Wang has to be present at the ceremony.
"According to the Seal Statute (印信條例), the legislative speaker has to represent the Legislative Yuan to give the national seal and the seal of the president and the vice president to the new president and vice president in the inauguration ceremony," DPP caucus director-general Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯) said.
"Wang is not the pan-blue camp's legislative speaker, but the Republic of China's legislative speaker. He is a smart guy who knows his position, so he should know when he attends the ceremony, he is there as the legislative speaker, not a pan-blue member. If he fails to show up on that day, he would be disqualified from being the speaker," Tsai said.
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