The Legislative Yuan’s constitutional amendment committee yesterday met for the first time, electing its five conveners and setting an objective to complete proposals, such as lowering the voting age, by next year.
The meeting comes after the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) made their own proposals for constitutional amendments following the nine-in-one local elections in November last year.
With 38 lawmakers taking part, the committee elected the KMT’s Lu Hsueh-chang (呂學樟), Wu Yu-sheng (吳育昇) and Johnny Chiang (江啟臣), as well as the DPP’s Cheng Li-chun (鄭麗君) and Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) as its conveners.
The conveners immediately met and reached agreements to hold two public hearings on constitutional issues per week — starting on April 9 — for five consecutive weeks, hoping to finish amendment drafts by mid-June so that they can be voted on in a referendum on January 16 next year when the legislative and presidential elections are due, Cheng told reporters after the meeting.
However Lu said that it would be a “difficult job to come up with amendment drafts by mid-June, since different parties have different ideas on different issues.”
“We’re under tremendous pressure,” he said.
The KMT hopes to pass amendments to improve the parliamentary system, enabling the legislature to choose the premier, while the DPP hopes to lower the threshold for amending the Constitution as well as increase the number of seats in the legislature.
Both parties agree that the legal age for voting should be lowered from 20 to 18.
“We suggest a two-phase constitutional amendment process, so that we can put non-controversial amendment proposals, such as lowering the voting age, to referendum first and then take time to negotiate other issues,” Lee said.
Meanwhile, Taiwan Solidarity Union caucus whip Lai Chen-chang (賴振昌) accused the two major parties of overlooking the smaller parties after he was not chosen as a convener.
“Constitutional reform last time, which was also led by the two major parties, was criticized for overlooking the voices of the smaller parties,” Lai said.
“It’s the same situation again this time,” Lai added.
Taipei has once again made it to the top 100 in Oxford Economics’ Global Cities Index 2025 report, moving up five places from last year to 60. The annual index, which was published last month, evaluated 1,000 of the most populated metropolises based on five indices — economics, human capital, quality of life, environment and governance. New York maintained its top spot this year, placing first in the economics index thanks to the strength of its vibrant financial industry and economic stability. Taipei ranked 263rd in economics, 44th in human capital, 15th in quality of life, 284th for environment and 75th in governance,
The Sports Administration yesterday demanded an apology from the national table tennis association for barring 17-year-old Yeh Yi-tian (葉伊恬) from competing in the upcoming World Table Tennis (WTT) United States Smash tournament in Las Vegas this July. The sports agency said in a statement that the Chinese Taipei Table Tennis Association (CTTTA) must explain to the public why it withdrew Yeh from the WTT tournament in Las Vegas. The sports agency said it contacted the association to express its disapproval of the decision-making process after receiving a complaint from Yeh’s coach, Chuang
Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) tendered his resignation last night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by media. His resignation was immediately accepted by the Control Yuan. In a statement explaining why he had resigned, Lee apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon on May 20. The issue first came to light late last month, when TVBS News reported that Lee had instructed his driver to take the dog to the salon. The news channel broadcast photos that it said were taken by an unnamed whistle-blower, which purportedly showed the
The New Taipei City Government would assist relatives of those killed or injured in last month’s car-ramming incident in Sansia District (三峽) to secure compensation, Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) said yesterday, two days after the driver died in a hospital. “The city government will do its best to help the relatives of the car crash incident seek compensation,” Hou said. The mayor also said that the city’s Legal Affairs, Education and Social Welfare departments have established a joint mechanism to “provide coordinated assistance” to victims and their families. Three people were killed and 12 injured when a car plowed into schoolchildren and their
RSS