Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (
Ker accused the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and People First Party (PFP) caucuses of "blackmailing" their DPP counterpart by linking the nominations for the Council of Grand Justices with those for the Control Yuan.
"They wanted to connect the nominations of grand justices and Control Yuan members for extortion purposes. The DPP caucus will never accept this kind of behavior," he said.
Chen submitted his a list of Control Yuan nominees in late 2004. The list has never been discussed in the legislature because the KMT-controlled Procedure Committee has refused to put it on the agenda.
Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (
KMT caucus whip Tseng Yuan-chuan (曾永權), however, said his party had not submitted any recommendations for the Control Yuan to Chen.
Lawmakers begin a three-day plenary question-and-answer session today to review Chen's candidates for president and vice president of Judicial Yuan as well as eight grand justice nominees. A confirmation vote has been scheduled for Friday.
But lawmakers were divided on the ballot's design, with the KMT suggesting "one grand justice nominee per ballot," while the DPP prefers "one ballot for all eight nominees."
Tseng rejected claims that the controversy over the ballot was the KMT's way to force Chen to negotiate over the Control Yuan nominations.
"In accordance with the Constitution, we asked for one ballot for each grand justice nominee," Tseng said, adding that he was referring to Article 5 of the Constitution's additional articles.
The article states that "each grand justice of the Judicial Yuan shall serve a term of eight years, independent of the order of appointment to office."
PFP Legislator Daniel Hwang (黃義交) said his party would side with the KMT on the matter.
Ker also accused the PFP of withholding a schedule for reviewing the eight grand justice nominees in exchange for the inclusion of four PFP members in a new list of Control Yuan nominees.
Meanwhile, the legislature held a hearing yesterday on how it should review and vote on the grand justice nominees.
Chen In-chin (陳英鈐), an associate professor of law at National Central University, said lawmakers should not link the two reviews: "The Judicial Yuan and the Control Yuan are two independent constitutional organs, and therefore there is no reason to link them. And any trade-off could damage the reputation of the grand justices."
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
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