President Chen Shui-bian (
Chen said it was his constitutional obligation to nominate grand justices and Control Yuan members, but added that nominees for the Control Yuan would not be determined in proportion to party seats as rumored.
On Sept. 27, the legislature approved four grand justices, as well as the president and vice president of the Judicial Yuan, from a list of 10 nominees proposed by Chen in August.
Grand Justice Lai Ying-jaw (
rejection
Hsu Chih-hsiung (
The pan-blues questioned the four nominees' relationship with the Democratic Progressive Party.
While thanking the legislature for confirming six of his nominees, Chen said yesterday he found it baffling and unacceptable that the legislature rejected the four because of their political affiliation.
As for his nominees for the Control Yuan, Chen said he had submitted a list of nominees to the legislature, which failed to fulfill its constitutional duty to review the candidates.
Chen submitted a list of Control Yuan nominees in late 2004, but the list has never been discussed in the legislature because the pan-blue-controlled Procedure Committee has refused to put it on the agenda.
He added that he was willing to submit a new list of candidates for review.
timing
At a separate setting yesterday, Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (
Wang said the legislature would go into recess one month before the election on Jan. 12, adding that the legislature's primary duty for this session was to review the government budget.
"It is better [that the two nomination lists] be submitted [to the legislature] together," Wang said.
"It is necessary to help the five independent bodies [the Executive Yuan, the Legislative Yuan, the Judicial Yuan, the Control Yuan and the Examination Yuan] as stipulated by the Constitution function normally as soon as possible," he said.
Additional reporting by Ko Shu-ling
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