The legislature approved an amendment yesterday that transfers the authority to appoint National Communications Commission (NCC) members from the legislature to the premier.
The Council of Grand Justices ruled in July last year that the original regulation empowering political parties to appoint NCC members based on the ratio of their seats in the legislature was unconstitutional.
The justices gave current commission members a grace period, while requiring the legislature to amend the organization's legislation by the end of this year.
The amendment to the Organic Law of the National Communications Commission (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) now stipulates that the commission shall consist of seven members nominated by the premier and approved by the legislature.
No more than three of the commission members may share membership of the same political party, the amendment states, adding that each member will serve a four-year term.
Incumbent commission mem-bers have said they will resign at the end of next month, but the amendment allows them to stay until new members assume office.
The amendment states that commission members may stay in office if the nomination process for new members is stalled.
NCC spokesman Howard Shyr (
"This commission is ready to hand over to the next commission as soon as possible," Shyr was quoted as saying in a Central News Agency report.
Shyr said he hoped the next commission could take over in time so that the commission would not be left unstaffed.
Meanwhile, a proposed amendment to the Offshore Islands Development Law (離島建設條例) aimed at legalizing casinos on the nation's outlying islands failed to pass yesterday, with lawmakers voting 84 to 57 against it.
The legislature also rejected an article contained in the proposal backed by the Non-Partisan Solidarity Union to grant tax exemptions for cargo transported to outlying islands.
However, the legislature passed an amendment to the President and Vice President Election and Recall Law (總統副總統選舉罷免法) designating a threshold for candidates seeking a ballot recount.
The amendment, proposed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), would allow the two presidential candidates who garner the most votes to ask for a ballot recount within seven days of the election if the margin of victory is less than 0.3 percent of the valid votes in the poll.
Candidates who ask for a vote recount are required to pay a deposit of NT$3 per ballot, according to the amendment.
The legislature, however, did not approve an article in the proposal that would require newspapers, magazines, radio programs or TV shows to grant a candidate or a political party opportunities to respond to media criticism.
The legislature also decided to maintain an election lawsuit regulation that designates a second trial as a final trial. An article in the KMT's proposal sought to allow candidates to file the same election lawsuit again if new evidence were found.
Additional reporting by Angelica Oung
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