The legislature yesterday confirmed two nominees for the Examination Yuan, with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus abstaining from the vote.
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)-led legislature approved the nomination of Lee Yi-yang (李逸洋) as Examination Yuan vice president and Chen Tsi-yang (陳慈陽) as a member by a vote of 74 and 77 respectively, out of a total of 113.
The DPP has 69 seats (including one independent lawmaker) in the legislature, the KMT caucus has 35, the New Power Party five, the People First Party three and one Non-Partisan Solidarity Union lawmaker.
Photo: Lu Yi-hsuan, Taipei Times
The KMT caucus collectively abstained from the vote, saying they refused to vote or endorse the nominees as “[President] Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and the DPP tricked the voters by promising to abolish the Examination Yuan and the Control Yuan before the [presidential and legislative] elections [last year], but nominated new members to the institutions after the elections.”
“It is a shameful flip-flop on the part of the DPP, and it would be compromising our stance if we voted — be it by confirming or rejecting the nominees,” KMT caucus convener Sufin Siluko (廖國棟) said.
DPP Legislator Huang Wei-cher (黃偉哲) said that as an institution, the Examination Yuan is not dominated by its president or vice president alone.
“You would still need discussions by the whole body before final decisions are made,” he added.
As the Examination Yuan oversees the operation of public services, its pension reform proposals are to be presented to the Legislative Yuan for review, alongside those submitted by lawmakers.
While the normal term for an Examination Yuan member is six years, Lee and Chen’s terms are to end in August 2020, as they are serving out the terms left by former Examination Yuan vice president Kao Yuang-kuang (高永光) and member Pasuya Poitsonu (浦忠成), who resigned respectively in December last year and last month after the change of administration.
Kao and Pasuya were nominated along with Examination Yuan President Wu Jin-lin (伍錦霖) in 2014 by then-president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九).
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