The first sitting of the National Assembly was stalled for more than two and a half hours yesterday as party representatives voiced their opinions on the constitutional amendments amid bickering and protests.
All 12 political parties and civic leagues with seats in the assembly were slated to speak at a forum yesterday to express their stance on the constitutional amendments.
Each representative was allowed seven minutes to explain his or her party's views on the amendment package.
PHOTO: SEAN CHAO, TAIPEI TIMES
The number of delegates was allocated in proportion to the seats each party or alliance has in the assembly. The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) each had six representatives, the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) and People First Party (PFP) each had three. Groups with less than five assembly seats had only one representative.
The DPP, however, decided to pass on the forum, saying it had already made clear its support for the amendments.
The PFP and TSU, which both oppose the package of constitutional amendments, filed more than 20 motions questioning the body's procedural rules in an attempt to block the amendments' expected passage today.
Earlier in the afternoon, Yen Kun-chuan (
"I'm very curious to know why those driving BMWs and taking their friends and families are allowed to enter the compound and have their pictures taken, while those driving a crane like me are stopped at the entrance," he said.
Assembly members, who were becoming visibly impatient with the TSU and PFP's attempts to obstruct the assembly's activities, cheered and applauded when chairman Chen Chin-jang (
Chien Lin Hui-chien (錢林慧君), convener of the TSU Assembly caucus, said that her party is in favor of halving the number of legislative seats but against bundling that amendment with others in one vote.
"The Statute Governing the Operation of the National Assembly (
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
Prosecutors in New Taipei City yesterday indicted 31 individuals affiliated with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) for allegedly forging thousands of signatures in recall campaigns targeting three Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers. The indictments stem from investigations launched earlier this year after DPP lawmakers Su Chiao-hui (蘇巧慧) and Lee Kuen-cheng (李坤城) filed criminal complaints accusing campaign organizers of submitting false signatures in recall petitions against them. According to the New Taipei District Prosecutors Office, a total of 2,566 forged recall proposal forms in the initial proposer petition were found during the probe. Among those
ECHOVIRUS 11: The rate of enterovirus infections in northern Taiwan increased last week, with a four-year-old girl developing acute flaccid paralysis, the CDC said Two imported cases of chikungunya fever were reported last week, raising the total this year to 13 cases — the most for the same period in 18 years, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. The two cases were a Taiwanese and a foreign national who both arrived from Indonesia, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said. The 13 cases reported this year are the most for the same period since chikungunya was added to the list of notifiable communicable diseases in October 2007, she said, adding that all the cases this year were imported, including 11 from
The Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant’s license has expired and it cannot simply be restarted, the Executive Yuan said today, ahead of national debates on the nuclear power referendum. The No. 2 reactor at the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant in Pingtung County was disconnected from the nation’s power grid and completely shut down on May 17, the day its license expired. The government would prioritize people’s safety and conduct necessary evaluations and checks if there is a need to extend the service life of the reactor, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference. Lee said that the referendum would read: “Do
RSS