Legislators across party lines yesterday approved President Chen Shui-bian's (
The 200 legislators present during yesterday's legislative session voted 193 to five in favor of the nomination. Two legislators cast invalid ballots during the confidential vote.
The number of affirmative votes Lin won passed the threshold of more than half of the total of 216 legislative seats.
PHOTO: FANG PIN-CHAO, TAIPEI TIMES
After the vote, Lin visited each party caucus to express his gratitude and promised to carry out his duties in an "impartial, independent and objective" manner.
In related developments, Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (
The legislature will review the nominations from Tuesday through Thursday and put them to a vote on Friday, Wang said.
However, inter-party negotiations are still needed to decide the form of the vote on the eight grand justice nominees, he said.
"The point of debate is that the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) insists that the legislature should vote on each of the eight grand justice nominees separately, but the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is in favor of voting on the eight nominees as a package," Wang told reporters.
"Both methods would suffice, because the legislature has the authority to approve the nomination. Both ways are legitimate," he said.
KMT Secretary-General Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) said voting on each of the nominees conformed to the spirit of the Constitution, adding that "there may be someone [on the list] that the public considers inadequate."
Wang also confirmed that he and Chen had agreed that the president would send a new list of Control Yuan nominees to the legislature by Wednesday.
The president submitted his initial list in late 2004.
However, the list of nominees has so far not been discussed by the legislature because the KMT-controlled Procedure Committee refused to put it on the legislative agenda.
After the DPP's caucus meeting yesterday morning, caucus whip Wang Tuoh (
Palauan President Surangel Whipps Jr arrived in Taiwan last night to kick off his first visit to the country since beginning his second term earlier this year. After arriving at Taoyuan International Airport at around 6:30 pm, Whipps and his delegation were welcomed by Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍). Speaking to gathered media, the Palauan leader said he was excited and honored to be back in Taiwan on his first state visit to Taiwan since he was sworn in this January. Among those traveling with Whipps is Minister of State Gustav N. Aitaro, Public Infrastructure
President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday thanked Palau for its continued support of Taiwan's international participation, as Taipei was once again excluded from the World Health Assembly (WHA) currently taking place in Switzerland. "Palau has never stopped voicing support for Taiwan" in the UN General Assembly, the WHO and other UN-affiliated agencies, Lai said during a bilateral meeting with visiting Palau President Surangel Whipps Jr. "We have been profoundly touched by these endorsements," Lai said, praising the Pacific island nation's firm support as "courageous." Lai's remarks came as Taiwan was excluded for the ninth consecutive year from the WHA, which is being held in
RESOLUTIONS DEBATE: Taiwan’s allies said that UN and WHA resolutions cited by China and other nations ‘do not determine Taiwan’s participation in WHO activities’ A proposal to invite Taiwan to this year’s World Health Assembly (WHA) was rejected on Monday, resulting in Taipei’s absence from the annual meeting for a ninth consecutive year, although partners spoke up for Taiwan’s participation at the first day of the meeting. The first agenda item after the opening was a “two-on-two debate” on a proposal to invite Taiwan to participate at the WHA as an observer. Similar to previous years, two countries made statements in favor of the proposal, while two others expressed their opposition. Philippine Secretary of Health Teodoro Herbosa, president of the 78th WHA, accepted the WHA General Committee’s
At least three people died and more than a dozen were injured yesterday afternoon when a vehicle struck a group of pedestrians in New Taipei City’s Sansia District (三峽). The incident happened at about 4pm when a car rammed into pedestrians at an intersection near Bei Da Elementary School. Witnesses said the sedan, being driven at a high speed, ran a red light, knocking scooters out of the way and hitting students crossing the road before careening into a median near the intersection of Guocheng and Guoguang streets. The incident resulted in three deaths and 13 injuries, including the driver, a 78-year-old man
RSS