The Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) legislative caucus yesterday demanded that the president extend the time allotted for recommending Control Yuan nominees from one week to one month.
"Recommending Control Yuan nominees is not like looking for student workers. We need at least a month," KMT legislative caucus whip Tsai Chin-lung (
KMT policy convener Tseng Yung-chuan (曾永權) said, however, that the caucus would drop its plan to increase the threshold for the approval of the president's nominees from a simple majority to a two-thirds majority as a result of the president's "goodwill."
Tseng was referring to a report in yesterday's United Evening News that the president would allow parties to recommend nominees to the Control Yuan according to their legislative seats.
The People First Party's (PFP) legislative caucus supported the KMT's stance.
"[The alleged new nomination method] is acceptable, but recommending nominees is never hasty work. We can't do it in a week," PFP Spokesman Lee Hung-chun (
Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (
"The president has obviously given a lot of thought to how to get [the nominations] past the legislature. I hope both opposition and ruling party lawmakers will show appreciation for that fact and not boycott or delay the review process," Wang said.
Wang said that the legislature should finish the review before it adjourns on Jan. 19.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Chin-jun (陳景峻), however, spoke out against any revisions of the nomination process.
Chen said that nominating Control Yuan members recommended by political parties in proportion to each party's number of seats in the legislature would be unconstitutional.
"For one thing, the president should not trample on the Constitution. He should not treat his right to nominate Control Yuan members as booty to be shared between political parties," the legislator said.
Citing the Constitution's requirements that Control Yuan members should not be affiliated with political parties and should exercise their powers independently and discharge their responsibilities in accordance with the law, Chen Chin-jun said he strongly urged the DPP not to recommend any nominees.
Meanwhile, DPP caucus whip Yeh Yi-chin (
Yeh told a press conference that her caucus was willing to finalize the nominations out of respect for the nation's constitutional system.
She said some of the candidates the president had previously proposed could be included in the party's recommendations because "not all of the candidates are poor ones."
She added that it would be a sign of respect for the opposition if the president allowed political parties to recommend candidates according to the number of legislative seats they hold.
However, she said that it made sense to allow more time for nominations if there was a consensus that it was needed.
DPP Deputy Secretary-General Tsai Huang-liang (
The Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) caucus, however, disapproved of the change.
TSU caucus whip Liao Pen-yen (
However, he added that the president might be trying to see whether or not the pan-blue camp was sincere about reviewing the nominations.
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