Opposition lawmakers voting in the majority on Friday turned down a request from the Cabinet to review a set of controversial amendments to expand the legislature’s powers of investigation.
The Executive Yuan is now required to accept the bills as law under Article 3 of the Additional Articles of the Constitution.
The Cabinet last week returned the bills to the legislature for another round of consideration, saying they were unconstitutional and would be difficult to execute.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
In an anticipated move, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party lawmakers voted together to deny the request, which was submitted in two parts.
Voting started at 11:28am, and by 11:50am, a majority of 57 lawmakers had voted to maintain the bills as written.
The final vote was 62 to 51 along party lines.
Following the vote, the Executive Yuan said it would file a request for a constitutional interpretation after the amendments go into effect.
The Democratic Progressive Party has previously said it would seek a constitutional interpretation if the bills are finalized, as well as a possible temporary injunction on implementing the new rules until the courts can rule on their legality.
The amendments to the Act Governing the Legislative Yuan’s Power (立法院職權行使法) and the Criminal Code passed on May 28 authorize the legislature to hold investigative hearings and issue penalties for holding the legislature in contempt, including jail time for government officials.
They also require the president to take questions from lawmakers during regular state of the nation addresses.
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