Former Yunlin County commissioner Lee Chin-yung’s (李進勇) nomination as chairman of the Central Election Commission (CEC) yesterday cleared a preliminary review at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei, despite protests from Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers.
Lee’s nomination was jointly reviewed yesterday morning by the Internal Administration Committee and the Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee.
However, the meeting got off to a rough start as KMT lawmakers tried to bar Lee from entering the room, leading to a physical confrontation between KMT and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
To break the deadlock, DPP Legislator Chang Hung-lu (張宏陸), who was chairing the meeting, said that the committees would proceed directly with a vote.
Lee was elected with 15 “yes” votes to five “no” votes.
After the decision was announced, KMT legislators began yelling that the voting procedure was illegal and that the outcome was void.
Lee Yen-hsiu (李彥秀) and other KMT legislators began throwing water about the meeting room, prompting DPP Legislator Ho Chih-wei (何志偉) to caution them to be respectful in the legislature.
KMT Legislator Huang Chao-shun (黃昭順) mocked the freshman legislator, saying he had “only been [in the legislature] several months” and that “mommy and daddy most certainly did not teach you to be this kind of legislator.”
KMT legislators then tried to stop Lee Chin-yung from leaving, yelling for him to quit and saying his nomination as chairman was “disgraceful.”
KMT caucus whip Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) accused the DPP of abusing its power as the legislative majority.
Lee Chin-yung was a top DPP member and by accepting the CEC nomination, he has broken his promise to retire from politics after stepping down as Yunlin County commissioner, Chiang said.
“Does everyone believe he [Lee Chin-yung] will be fair and impartial?” Chiang asked.
DPP Chairman Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said that the committee members were exercising their legal rights in voting in the CEC chairperson nomination, and that they were obligated to exercise this right within a specified time frame.
The DPP was troubled by the minority KMT’s irrational boycott of the vote, he said at a meeting of the DPP’s Central Standing Committee.
Lee Chin-yung is an accomplished and experienced lawyer, and has extensive experience in local elections, Cho said.
Lee Chin-yung had already formally left the DPP and would be able to carry out his duties in an impartial and fair manner under the supervision of the legislature, Cho said.
He urged all legislators to cooperate on future elections and referendums.
Lee Chin-yung’s nomination awaits final approval by lawmakers during a plenary session.
Prosecutors in New Taipei City yesterday indicted 31 individuals affiliated with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) for allegedly forging thousands of signatures in recall campaigns targeting three Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers. The indictments stem from investigations launched earlier this year after DPP lawmakers Su Chiao-hui (蘇巧慧) and Lee Kuen-cheng (李坤城) filed criminal complaints accusing campaign organizers of submitting false signatures in recall petitions against them. According to the New Taipei District Prosecutors Office, a total of 2,566 forged recall proposal forms in the initial proposer petition were found during the probe. Among those
ECHOVIRUS 11: The rate of enterovirus infections in northern Taiwan increased last week, with a four-year-old girl developing acute flaccid paralysis, the CDC said Two imported cases of chikungunya fever were reported last week, raising the total this year to 13 cases — the most for the same period in 18 years, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. The two cases were a Taiwanese and a foreign national who both arrived from Indonesia, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said. The 13 cases reported this year are the most for the same period since chikungunya was added to the list of notifiable communicable diseases in October 2007, she said, adding that all the cases this year were imported, including 11 from
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) today condemned the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) after the Czech officials confirmed that Chinese agents had surveilled Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) during her visit to Prague in March last year. Czech Military Intelligence director Petr Bartovsky yesterday said that Chinese operatives had attempted to create the conditions to carry out a demonstrative incident involving Hsiao, going as far as to plan a collision with her car. Hsiao was vice president-elect at the time. The MAC said that it has requested an explanation and demanded a public apology from Beijing. The CCP has repeatedly ignored the desires