Print

Mail

wiki links

Soong to `quit politics' if Chen ousted

People First Party Chairman James Soong speaks at a press conference at the legislature yesterday, saying that if the legislature does not pass the presidential recall on June 27, he will push for a vote of no confidence in the Cabinet. He also said that if President Chen Shui-bian were to step down, he would be willing to withdraw from the Taipei mayoral election, leave the party chairmanship and even quit politics altogether. PHOTO: CHIEN JUNG-FONG, TAIPEI TIMES

People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) yesterday showed his determination to oust the president, saying he would quit politics should the motion to recall President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) succeed.

"I can give up running in the Taipei mayoral election and I don't have any intention to serve as premier. I would even like to drop out of politics if the president steps down," Soong told a press conference at the legislature yesterday.

Today, the legislature starts a four-day committee meeting of the whole legislature to review a motion to recall the president sponsored by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the PFP. The legislature will vote on the motion on Tuesday.

Soong said he would lead his party members and supporters to stage a sit-in in the legislature during the five days of meetings -- until the legislature completes the vote.

Due to confrontations between the pan-blue and the pan-green camps over procedures for reviewing the recall motion, yesterday's sitting of the legislature ended in an impasse -- the same situation as last Friday -- and two special flood-control budget bills again failed to pass.

Democratic Progressive Party legislators have been considering boycotting the committee and even the vote, in a bid to highlight what they say is the irrationality of the recall motion.

They will make a final decision in a caucus meeting early today.

The recall motion needs to gain the support of two-thirds of the legislature, or 148 lawmakers, for it to be sent to voters to decide the matter in a referendum.

DPP under pressure

Considering the high threshold to get the motion cleared at the legislature, the pan-blue camp, which holds a slim majority of seats, said that it would persuade the pan-green legislators to support the motion by adopting a "psychological warfare strategy."

"Whether the recall will succeed depends on the pan-green legislators' consciences," KMT Legislator Kuo Su-chun (郭素春) said.

"Although we know that it's difficult for the pan-greens to back the recall, it's time for heroes to come forward, like former DPP chairmen Shih Ming-teh (施明德) and Hsu Hsin-liang (許信良)," KMT Legislator Justin Chou (周守訓) said.

Shih and Hsu have both asked the president, who is under fire over a spate of alleged wrongdoing involving his aides and in-laws, to resign.

Soong yesterday also suggested convening a second special legislative session to pass a motion to topple the Cabinet.

Confidence vote

"We will push for a no-confidence vote [against Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌)] as his support for the president makes him equivalent to his [Chen's] accomplice. Thus he can't meet the people's expectations for a clean government," Soong said.

Soong's proposal would advance the date of a move to dismiss the Cabinet, in comparison to the pan-blue camp's initial plan to put forward such a motion in September, when the next legislative session begins.

Although the threshold for passing a motion to ask the premier to resign is lower than for a recall motion -- as it requires only half of the legislative votes -- the possibility that the president could dissolve the legislature complicates the issue.

"The KMT hasn't ruled out any possibility in asking the president to take responsibility, including forcing the premier to resign, but we should focus on the recall motion at this moment," KMT legislative caucus whip Pan Wei-kang (潘維剛) said.
This story has been viewed 2718 times.