The Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) will petition the Council of Grand Justices to interpret the constitutionality of the organic law of the National Communications Commission (NCC, 國家通訊傳播委員會組織法), a TSU lawmaker said yesterday.
Ho Min-hao (
As the petition requires the endorsement of more than 73 legislators, the TSU -- which has only 12 lawmakers -- will lobby for support from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), Ho said.
Pushed through by the pan-blue camp on Oct. 25 and promulgated by the president on Nov. 9, the NCC law stipulates that 15 representatives will be recommended by the legislature according to the share of seats held by each political party, and the Executive Yuan will recommend three, within 10 days after the law's promulgation.
The commission's 13 members will then be selected from among the 18 nominees by an 11-member review committee, all of them professional experts and academics recommended by political parties based on proportional representation, through open votes within 15 days.
Successful candidates will be named by the premier, who will send the name list to the legislature for approval before officially appointing them, according to the law.
Both the TSU and DPP disapprove of the law, claiming that the legislation will allow political influence in the NCC that is supposed to maintain independence.
However, the DPP has said it will not request a constitutional interpretation on the law unless the pan-blue camp tries to sway the NCC's operations.
KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) announced on Friday that the party is accepting public recommendations of NCC nominees and promised that the KMT will not interfere in the operations of the NCC after its formation.
People First Party Legislator Lee Yung-ping (
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
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Advocates of the rights of motorcycle and scooter riders yesterday protested in front of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications in Taipei, making three demands. They were joined by 30 passenger vehicles, which surrounded the ministry to make three demands related to traffic regulations — that motorcycles and scooters above 250cc be allowed on highways, that all motorcycles and scooters be allowed on inside lanes, and that driver and rider training programs be reformed. The ministry said that it has no plans to allow motorcycles on national highways for the time being, and said that motorcycles would be allowed on the inner
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition