The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislative caucus yesterday urged President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) to call a summit with political leaders in a bid to resolve the stalemate over the president's nominees for members of the Control Yuan.
"Whether the political deadlock will be resolved lies in the president's gesture of goodwill," said KMT Legislator Tseng Yung-chuan (
"If the president really wants to conduct talks with political leaders, it'd be a good idea to discuss one single issue at a time, such as the confirmation of the president's selections for Control Yuan members," Tseng said.
The review of the nominations has been delayed for more than eight months. The Presidential Office has rejected the pan-blue camp's demand to submit a different nominee list and a letter requesting the legislature conduct a confirmation hearing.
If the president fails to respond positively, Tseng said that his caucus does not rule out the possibility of amending the Organic Law of the Control Yuan (監察院組織法) and the Law Governing Legislators' Exercise of Power (立法院職權行使法) to compel the president to re-nominate members and raise the legislature's confirmation threshold.
To solve the problem, Tseng said that the long-term plan was to seek constitutional amendments to make the terms of Control Yuan members different rather than uniform. Tseng, however, acknowledged that this would difficult.
Tseng made the remarks yesterday morning after attending a forum jointly organized by a KMT legislator and a People First Party (PFP) legislator to discuss possible solutions to resolve the political impasse.
Citing the example of the US president's nomination of US Supreme Court judges, Su Yeong-chin (
Control Yuan members are mandated by the Constitution to serve for six years.
Chou Yang-san (
He also proposed to amend the Organic Law of the Control Yuan to regulate the composition of Control Yuan members.
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