The legislature yesterday approved Wang Chien-shien’s (王建火宣) nomination as president of the Control Yuan, but rejected the nominee for vice president of the Control Yuan, Shen Fu-hsiung (沈富雄), who failed to win support from either the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) or Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucuses.
Although KMT legislators had agreed at a caucus meeting prior to the vote to give Wang their full support, Wang received only 74 affirmative votes from the 112-seat legislature. Thirty-six votes were cast against Wang and one ballot was blank.
As all 27 DPP lawmakers rejected Wang as they had agreed to do prior to the vote, up to 10 KMT lawmakers may have voted against Wang.
PHOTO: WANG YI-SUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
The KMT has 81 seats and its ally the Non-Partisan Solidarity Union, has four.
The KMT and DPP caucuses agreed to an open vote on Shen, who received 51 votes in favor of his appointment, six votes short of the threshold for approving his nomination, while 54 legislators voted against appointing Shen and six cast blank votes.
The Law Governing the Legislative Yuan’s Exercise of Power (立法院職權行使法) stipulates that the president’s nominations for the Control Yuan must pass the legislature by a simple majority, or 57 votes.
“The voting results reflected the KMT legislative caucus’ intention of embarrassing President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九). Ma was the loser in the review vote,” DPP Legislator Chen Ting-fei (陳亭妃) told a press conference after the vote.
“The vote showed that internal conflict in the KMT is fierce ... [the party] is not at Ma’s command,” DPP caucus whip William Lai (賴清德) said.
KMT Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) arrived at the legislature early yesterday to make sure KMT lawmakers would support the nominees before the voting on Wang and Shen and came again in the afternoon before the vote on the other 27 Control Yuan members.
Asked for a comment on Shen’s rejection, Wu said he was “a bit surprised” and that Shen had received 20 votes fewer than he had expected.
“Although the caucus meeting decided to allow lawmakers to make their own decisions concerning Shen, we [the party] actually supported his appointment in principle,” Wu said.
DPP Legislator Lee Chun-yee (李俊毅) said he felt sorry for Shen and that the KMT and Ma had toyed with him.
Lee urged Shen to continue his work as a political commentator and analyze the performance of the government.
KMT Legislator Lu Hsueh-chang (呂學樟) said that many KMT lawmakers had doubted Shen’s qualifications for the position because of his conviction on charges of illegally importing medicines from the US in the early 1990s when he was a renal disease physician.
Shen protested his innocence during a question-and-answer session with legislators, Lu said.
Certain KMT legislators have also expressed concern over allegations that Shen, together with Chen You-hao (陳由豪), the founder of the now-defunct Tuntex Group, gave political donations to former first lady Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍) in 1994 when her husband was running for Taipei mayor.
Chen fled abroad in 2001 and was placed by judicial authorities on a most-wanted list after a series of financial scandals emerged that allegedly involved him.
At a separate setting, Shen, when approached for comment, said yesterday he didn’t regret the results of the vote, adding that “I am not a person who is well loved by [the DPP and the KMT], but neither am I extremely hated by either camp.”
A former DPP legislator who quit the party last year over political differences with some DPP hardliners on major policies, Shen said he was not surprised at the outcome.
Shen said he felt relieved rather than sad, because had the nomination been approved, he would have lost much of his personal freedom for the next six years and would have constantly worried about doing a good job as a member of the government watchdog body.
DPP legislative caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) said the DPP had not asked its caucus members to vote against Shen because “[the caucus] considers Shen to be a man with a sense of justice.”
The DPP had vowed to vote down half of the 27 Control Yuan members, but only Chen Yao-chang (陳耀昌), Hsu Ping-chin (�?i) and Yu Mei-nu (尤美女) failed to pass the confirmation vote yesterday.
Meanwhile, Presidential Office Spokesman Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦) expressed regret yesterday over the legislature’s rejection of Shen, but declined to comment further on the issue.
“President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) nominated Mr Shen in order to eliminate ideology conflicts and push for ethnic reconciliation,” Wang said at the Presidential Office. “We regret that Shen’s nomination failed to pass the legislature.”
Wang declined to answer any questions from the media and left immediately after making the statement.
The Control Yuan, tasked with monitoring and arbitrating matters concerning elected officials and senior civil servants, has been empty since the term of office of the previous members expired on Jan. 31, 2005, as KMT legislators refused to review former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) nomination list.
During the more than three-year gap, more than 32,000 cases have piled up for review at the Control Yuan.
Additional reporting by Mo Yan-chih, Rich Chang and CNA
Also see: EDITORIAL: The ballad of Shen Fu-hsiung
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