The legislature passed a law yesterday banning some public officials and servants from holding positions in political parties, but a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator said the law would not apply to top government officials, amid speculation that President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) could seek his party’s chairmanship.
KMT caucus deputy secretary-general John Wu (吳志揚) told the Taipei Times that the Act Governing the Administrative Impartiality of Public Officials (公務人員行政中立法) applies to public officials at the basic level and not high-level officials such as the premier or the president.
Mentioned in the act are political appointees, employees of state-run enterprises, interns preparing to serve as public officials, presidents and employees of public schools including teachers who double as school administrators, and military instructors. The act does not bar them from joining political parties but prohibits them from serving as party officials or officials of political groups. It also bans them from working at campaign offices of candidates running for public office.
The act also prohibits involvement in wrangling between party factions, participation in political activities during office hours and using administrative resources for election campaigns.
Article 18 of the act says the law includes “political appointees who have to transcend party lines and independently exercise their authority by law or by the Constitution.”
The law stipulates that public officials and servants can file complaints with the supervisor of their superior if asked to violate administrative impartiality by campaigning for a candidate.
Last month local media quoted KMT sources as saying that some party members would like to see Ma assume the KMT chairmanship to improve communication between the administration and the party.
Asked yesterday whether the law would apply to Ma, Wu said it would not, adding that “the act is meant to better protect public officials at the basic level [from being told by their superiors to campaign for a candidate].”
Also yesterday, the legislature postponed a vote on a draft organic law for the Central Election Commission (CEC) until Friday.
If passed, the law would dismiss the current members of the commission and reorganize the body.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators had criticized the KMT-supported draft, describing it as “Ma Ying-jeou’s attempt to lay his dirty hands on the CEC.”
Legislators yesterday also reached a consensus across party lines to extend the spring legislative session from the end of this month to June 16.
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