The legislature’s Internal Administration Committee yesterday passed an initial review of five Executive Yuan-nominated Central Election Commission (CEC) members in the absence of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers, who withdrew in protest because one of the nominees was not present and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Huang Chao-shun (黃昭順), who presided over the review, was “missing” for 50 minutes.
Holding up a sign that read “Please help look for missing Internal Administration Committee convener Huang Chao-shun,” DPP legislators Chen Ting-fei (陳亭妃), Twu Shiing-jer (涂醒哲) and Huang Jen-shu (黃仁杼), as well as KMT legislators Lu Chia-chen (盧嘉辰) and Chen Fu-hai (陳福海), stood in front of the chairperson’s seat, asking where she was.
“Huang [Chao-shun] declared a 10-minute break at 9:25am, but it’s 10:11am now, and we don’t know her whereabouts,” Chen Ting-fei said. “Should we call the police?”
Twu said that as the chair of the meeting, “Huang [Chao-shun] is disrespecting the committee and her colleagues by being absent for so long in the middle of a meeting without telling us where she is.”
KMT lawmakers were equally curious about Huang Chao-shun’s whereabouts.
Meanwhile, Chai Song-lin (柴松林), one of the five nominees, did not attend the meeting because he was not in the country.
Chai is a current CEC member whose term ends on Nov. 3, as do the terms of incumbent nominees Kuo Yu-ying (郭昱瑩) and Tuan Chung-min (段重民). The other two nominees — Deputy Minister of the Interior Lin Tzu-ling (林慈玲) and National University of Kaohsiung’s Department of Government and Law professor Chen Wen-sheng (陳文生) — are first-time nominees.
Chai’s absence upset lawmakers across party lines because the committee was not informed beforehand.
However, lawmakers were divided on whether the meeting should continue without Chai.
“[Chai] is certainly looking down upon the Legislative Yuan by not showing up,” Huang Jen-shu said. “If we cannot question everyone, how are we supposed to review their qualifications? How do we know what their opinions are on various issues? I propose that we call the meeting off.”
KMT Legislator Pan Wei-kang (潘維剛) disagreed, saying “since the meeting has been scheduled, it should continue without him. Otherwise, we’re not respecting the other four nominees who took the time to be here.”
Because the two sides could not reach a consensus, Huang Chao-shun declared a 10-minute break for negotiations at 9:25am.
However, instead of negotiating with DPP lawmakers, Huang Chao-shun disappeared until 10:15am. When Huang Chao-shun finally reappeared, she only said “maybe my watch was not working” when questioned as to her whereabouts.
Not satisfied with her answer, DPP lawmakers lodged a protest, prompting Huang Chao-shun to call another break only minutes after the meeting resumed.
When the meeting finally resumed again at noon, the committee quickly gave the green light to all five nominees because all DPP lawmakers had decided to withdraw in protest.
The nominees will be referred to the general assembly for a vote.
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