President Chen Shui-bian (
Immediately following the promulgation of the statute, several Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) legislative caucus members proceeded to the Judicial Yuan to seek a constitutional interpretation of the law from the Council of Grand Justices.
"According to the Constitution, the president does not have the right to oppose a law passed by the legislature," Chen said while promulgating the statute.
PHOTO: SEAN CHAO, TAIPEI TIMES
"Regarding the controversy concerning the three-quarters vote threshold and whether or not invalid ballots violate constitutional principles, a constitutional interpretation to resolve [the controversy] is permitted," Chen said.
Meanwhile, the Cabinet yesterday announced that it will not propose sending the statute back to the legislature for reconsideration.
The statute stipulates that three-quarters of all National Assembly members must vote in favor of constitutional amendments in order for them to pass.
"It is basically not our job to do so," Cabinet Spokesman Cho Jung-tai (
Cho said that it is not the Cabinet's job to send laws back to the legislature. The Cabinet is the government office which proposes policies or the laws, not the office responsible for rejecting laws. Also, even if the Cabinet proposes sending the statute back, a revised version will not be approved before the National Assembly convenes.
"Because of these reasons, I hereby announce that [the Cabinet] will not do so," Cho said.
Former DPP chairman Lin I-hsiung (
Citing the fact that most people support the amendments, Lin said that a 75 percent threshold means that negative votes could override affirmative votes, and this would violate the legal principle of the Constitution and the spirit of democracy.
Lin also suggested replacing the 75 percent requirement with a simple majority.
The former party chairman also told Su that if the president signs the statute into law without asking the Cabinet to send it back to the legislature, "then the president would be making a mistake."
Although the Cabinet will not urge lawmakers to reconsider the statute, Cho said that the Cabinet is still hoping that National Assembly members will accomplish their mission of amending the Constitution, which the majority Taiwanese people support.
"This means a lot to my fellow Taiwanese people. It will also be an important milestone in Taiwan's democratic history," Cho said.
additional reporting by Huang Tai-lin
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