The Legislative Yuan yesterday passed the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)-proposed referendum opposing the abolition of the death penalty, with a 54:48 vote.
The bill yesterday questioned the legality of all courts across different circuits having to reach a unanimous decision in a capital sentence ruling, stating that Constitutional Judgement No. 8 last year ruled that capital punishment was constitutional, but imposed strict and unreasonable prerequisites for such a ruling, so it was as though capital punishment existed only in name.
The judgement places the preferences of the grand justices above public opinion, the KMT said.
Photo: CNA
Despite the execution of death-row inmate Huang Lin-kai (黃麟凱) on Jan. 16, the public is not convinced that the death penalty has not in effect been abolished, it added.
Huang, then an active service military personnel, was convicted of the murder of his ex-girlfriend Wang Pin-chih (王品智) and her mother, Chou Mei-chueh (周美雀), in 2013, and was given the death penalty.
The bill was introduced by KMT Legislator Wu Tsung-hsien (吳宗憲) on March 25. The vote yesterday was held after a consensus was not reached in a cross-caucus meeting convened by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) on May 8.
Before the vote took place, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers took the podium and voiced their opposition to the bill.
DPP caucus chief executive Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) said that any referendum motion initiated by the legislature has to abide by existing policies governing the drafting and amendment of laws and policies.
As Taiwan has not officially abolished capital punishment, and the Constitutional Court has declared that the death sentence is constitutional, Wu questioned the legal knowledge and literacy of opposition lawmakers.
The KMT’s motion was a waste of taxpayers’ money and was an attempt to sidetrack the recall efforts against KMT legislators, she said.
DPP Legislator Chung Chia-pin (鍾佳濱) said the KMT’s proposed bill capitalized on the public’s lack of knowledge on the issue and incites them to upend the Constitution.
According to the Referendum Act (公民投票法), the legislature can propose a referendum bill, along with its reasoning, if it finds that important policies should be drafted or amended.
If passed, the referendum should be forwarded to the competent authorities within 10 days of the bill’s passage, the act states.
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