The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said it would support inviting President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to give a state of the union address-style report to the legislature if the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus launched such a proposal.
The KMT’s defeat in Saturday’s three legislative by-elections in Taichung, Taoyuan and Taitung counties brought the DPP’s number of legislative seats to 30. This gives the party’s caucus more power to check the KMT administration because it now holds more than one-quarter of the seats in the 113-member Legislative Yuan. A quarter of seats is the threshold required to launch a motion to recall the president, amend the Constitution, alter the nation’s territory, ask the president to report to the legislature or request the Legislative Yuan to call provisional sessions.
The DPP caucus said it had no plan to file a recall motion against Ma. As for asking the president to report to the legislature, DPP Legislator Huang Wei-cher (黃偉哲) said the party caucus might launch such a proposal. The party said it would first discuss the matter before referring a motion to cross-party negotiations at the Legislative Yuan.
KMT caucus secretary-general Lu Hsueh-chang (呂學樟) yesterday said the caucus would be glad to arrange such an occasion as long as Ma was willing to give the address.
But Lu said the president should not should not have to answer questions from legislators after the address because the Act Governing Legislators’ Exercise of Power (立法院職權行使法) does not empower legislators to require this.
The Act stipulates that lawmakers can invite the president for a state of the union-style address when legislative sessions begin every year as authorized by the Additional Articles of the Constitution. Such an invitation must be proposed by more than a quarter of the 113 legislators and clear the legislative floor, the Act says.
The address should focus on national security or major national policy, the Act states, adding that the president should send a written report to legislators three days before the address.
The Act stipulates that lawmakers can raise questions regarding content of the address, but it does not specify whether this means the president should remain on the legislative floor for a question-and-answer session as the premier is obliged to after the administrative briefing at the beginning of every legislative session. The president can elaborate on his report if he wants to after legislators raise their questions, the Act says.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY AFP
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