Presidential Office Secretary-General Chan Chun-po (詹春柏) led President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) nominees for the Control Yuan and Examination Yuan on a visit to the legislature to garner support yesterday, but it unexpectedly turned into a quarrel between Chan and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus whip William Lai (賴清德).
On Chan’s way to the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus, Chan bumped into Lai, who lashed out at Ma for failing to keep his campaign promise not to nominate KMT members for the positions of president and vice president of the Control Yuan and Examination Yuan.
Defending the president, Chan said Ma had only emphasized that he would be “politically blind” when deliberating the nomination list.
Lai questioned the president’s nomination of KMT Vice Chairman John Kuan (關中) as Examination Yuan president, saying that “there are many other talented individuals” the president could have chosen.
The quarrel escalated as Chan and the nominees visited the KMT and Non-Partisan Solidarity Union caucuses while avoiding the DPP caucus.
Asked for comment, Presidential Office Spokesman Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦) said Chan and the nominees had made the visit to show their respect to all members of the Legislative Yuan.
Wang said, however, that DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) had turned down the visit on Tuesday.
Ker later confirmed the rejection at a press conference, demanding that the president apologize to the nation for including KMT members in the nomination lists.
Ker said the DPP caucus had made it clear during a cross-party negotiation session last week that it would only agree to review the nominees for grand justices.
“The KMT will have to pay a price if it insists on pushing through [the nomination of Control Yuan and Examination Yuan members],” Ker said.
It is expected that the Legislative Yuan will soon review the nominations, as the legislative session began on Friday.
However, the DPP caucus has threatened to block Kuan’s nomination because of his affiliation with the KMT.
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