Premier wants the entire Executive Yuan to resign

Premier Yu Shyi-kun yesterday said he will lead the entire Executive Yuan to resign before the newly-elected legislators take their oaths of office on Feb. 1 next year.

"Although the Constitution does not mandate a Cabinet resignation after a new legislature is elected, in keeping with the constitutional precedent, I'll lead the entire Cabinet to resign after the current legislature concludes its last session in January," Yu said.

Regarding who will lead the new government, Yu said that he had no comment on the question, as it fell within the jurisdiction of the president.

Yu made the announcement yesterday morning in response to a question by Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) lawmaker Chien Lin Whei-jun (錢林慧君) during a question-and-answer session on the legislative floor.

Chien-Lin asked Yu about his personal intent to retain the post. Yu said that the last session of the legislature is important, because the Cabinet would like to pass as many as 33 bills before it goes into a recess in one month.

While Yu refused to comment on potential candidates for his replacement as premier, he downplayed the achievements of Vice Legislative Speaker Chiang Ping-kun (江丙坤), who was hand-picked by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) and recommended to President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) as a potential candidate for the premiership.

"When he was the economic affairs minister during Vincent Siew's (蕭萬長) premiership, no aspect of the government's economic growth was as good as this year's," Yu said, adding that the economic growth in 2001 under the DPP administration was 2.22 percent and that the figure is estimated to jump to 5.9 percent this year, the highest in seven years.

Yu made the remarks in response to a question by DPP lawmaker Lin Kuo-hua (林國華).

Lin asked Yu whether he thought Chiang would make a good premier, taking into account Chiang's economic background.

Yu said he recognized Chiang's achievements, but the DPP administration was even better.