The non-profit legislative watchdog group Citizen Congress Watch (CCW) yesterday urged the Legislative Yuan to amend legislation to oblige lawmakers whose elected status had been annulled or who left their position before completing their term to return the government’s election subsidy to the state coffers.
In a press release, CCW said seven members of the seventh legislature, elected in January last year, had already left the legislature.
Three of them lost their seats after courts annulled their election in vote-buying cases, CCW said.
The three former legislators are former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators Lee E-tin (李乙廷), Chang Sho-wen (張碩文) and Chiang Lien-fu (江連福).
In addition, former KMT legislator Diane Lee (李慶安) resigned over a dual nationality controversy while former KMT legislators Lee Chi-chu (李紀珠), Lee Chia-chin (李嘉進) and Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) were appointed to government posts.
CCW said the government had to spend NT$52 million (US$1.6 million) on the by-elections for Lee E-tin, Chang and Diane Lee, adding that two more by-elections for Chiang and Wu would also be held soon.
While every legislator is entitled to government stipends for the number of votes they garner in legislative elections, the Election and Recall Act of Public Servants (公職人員選舉罷免法) does not oblige lawmakers who fail to complete their legislative term to return the funds, CCW said.
Elected representatives or officials enjoy election stipends — NT$30 for every vote they win. Wu, who is now the premier, won 64,295 votes in the legislative election and thus received about NT$1.9 million (US$59,000).
“These people are no longer legislators and have disappointed their voters. They do not deserve the stipends,” CCW said.
Seven more legislators are expected to join the year-end city and county chief elections, meaning the nation may have to hold more by-elections before the end of the term of the seventh legislature, CCW said.
“Given the rising national debt, legislators should help the people save money,” CCW added.
Taipei, New Taipei City, Keelung and Taoyuan would issue a decision at 8pm on whether to cancel work and school tomorrow due to forecasted heavy rain, Keelung Mayor Hsieh Kuo-liang (謝國樑) said today. Hsieh told reporters that absent some pressing reason, the four northern cities would announce the decision jointly at 8pm. Keelung is expected to receive between 300mm and 490mm of rain in the period from 2pm today through 2pm tomorrow, Central Weather Administration data showed. Keelung City Government regulations stipulate that school and work can be canceled if rain totals in mountainous or low-elevation areas are forecast to exceed 350mm in
EVA Airways president Sun Chia-ming (孫嘉明) and other senior executives yesterday bowed in apology over the death of a flight attendant, saying the company has begun improving its health-reporting, review and work coordination mechanisms. “We promise to handle this matter with the utmost responsibility to ensure safer and healthier working conditions for all EVA Air employees,” Sun said. The flight attendant, a woman surnamed Sun (孫), died on Friday last week of undisclosed causes shortly after returning from a work assignment in Milan, Italy, the airline said. Chinese-language media reported that the woman fell ill working on a Taipei-to-Milan flight on Sept. 22
COUNTERMEASURE: Taiwan was to implement controls for 47 tech products bound for South Africa after the latter downgraded and renamed Taipei’s ‘de facto’ offices The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is still reviewing a new agreement proposed by the South African government last month to regulate the status of reciprocal representative offices, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. Asked about the latest developments in a year-long controversy over Taiwan’s de facto representative office in South Africa, Lin during a legislative session said that the ministry was consulting with legal experts on the proposed new agreement. While the new proposal offers Taiwan greater flexibility, the ministry does not find it acceptable, Lin said without elaborating. The ministry is still open to resuming retaliatory measures against South
The Central Emergency Operations Center (CEOC) has made a three-phased compulsory evacuation plan for Hualien County’s Mataian River (馬太鞍溪) disaster zone ahead of the potential formation of a typhoon. The plan includes mandatory vertical evacuation using air-raid-style alarms if needed, CEOC chief coordinator Chi Lien-cheng (季連成) told a news conference in the county yesterday. Volunteers would be prohibited from entering the disaster area starting tomorrow, the retired general said. The first phase would be relocating vulnerable residents, including elderly people, disabled people, pregnant women and dialysis patients, in shelters and hospitals, he said. The second phase would be mandatory evacuation of residents living in
RSS