Cabinet members yesterday met with Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators as they sought cooperation in prioritizing the passage of major bills in the new legislative session, which is slated to begin today.
Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義), speaking to KMT party officials and legislators at the KMT headquarters, said that in the new legislative session, the Cabinet would push for the amendment of the National Health Insurance Act (全民健康保險法), an anti-corruption organization law and 18 other laws, as well as a general budget for next year and a special budget for flood control.
“The Cabinet will strengthen cooperation and negotiation with the legislature, hoping that the bills will pass the legislature smoothly,” he said.
KMT Policy Committee Director Lin Yi-shih (林益世) said the legislature was scheduled to start handling the budget plan and bills on Nov. 2 after the question-and-answer session with the Cabinet.
While promising to pass the proposed laws and budget plans, Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) and some KMT legislators expressed concerns about November’s special municipality elections, calling on party members to join efforts in campaigning for party candidates.
“We should use our advantages as the ruling party and seek victories in the upcoming elections,” he said.
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), in his capacity as the KMT chairman, said several government bodies, such as the Ministry of National Defense and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, should “stay neutral,” but other government officials should be able to participate in election campaign events during the weekends.
The KMT will hold large-scale campaign events for the party’s Kaohsiung mayoral candidate Huang Chao-shun (黃昭順) and Tainan mayoral candidate Kuo Tien-tsai (郭添財) next weekend.
In an interview with Singapore’s Chinese-language Lianhe Zaobao on Tuesday, KMT Secretary-General King Pu-tsung (金溥聰) said the KMT must win at least three of the five municipality mayoral elections to be held Nov. 27, otherwise the result will be “a failure.”
King added that if the party suffered such a failure, he would shoulder the responsibility.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY CNA
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