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.
The Ministry of the Interior (MOI) is to tighten rules for candidates running for public office, requiring them to declare that they do not hold a Chinese household registration or passport, and that they possess no other foreign citizenship. The requirement was set out in a draft amendment to the Enforcement Rules of the Public Officials Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法 ) released by the ministry on Thursday. Under the proposal, candidates would need to make the declaration when submitting their registration forms, which would be published in the official election bulletin. The move follows the removal of several elected officials who were
FOUR DESIGNATED AREAS: Notices were issued for live-fire exercises in waters south and northwest of Penghu, northeast of Keelung and west of Kaohsiung, they said The military is planning three major annual exercises across the army, navy and air force this month, with the navy’s “Hai Chiang” (海強, “Sea Strong”) drills running from today through Friday, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday. The Hai Chiang exercise, which is to take place in waters surrounding Taiwan, would feature P-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft and S-70C anti-submarine helicopters, the ministry said, adding that the drills aim to bolster the nation’s offshore defensive capabilities. China has intensified military and psychological pressure against Taiwan, repeatedly sending warplanes and vessels into areas near the nation’s air defense identification zone and across
FORCED LABOR: A US court listed three Taiwanese and nine firms based in Taiwan in its indictment, with eight of the companies registered at the same address Nine companies registered in Taiwan, as well as three Taiwanese, on Tuesday were named by the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) as Specially Designated Nationals (SDNs) as a result of a US federal court indictment. The indictment unsealed at the federal court in Brooklyn, New York, said that Chen Zhi (陳志), a dual Cambodian-British national, is being indicted for fraud conspiracy, money laundering and overseeing Prince Holding Group’s forced-labor scam camps in Cambodia. At its peak, the company allegedly made US$30 million per day, court documents showed. The US government has seized Chen’s noncustodial wallet, which contains
SENATE RECOMMENDATION: The National Defense Authorization Act encourages the US secretary of defense to invite Taiwan’s navy to participate in the exercises in Hawaii The US Senate on Thursday last week passed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2026, which strongly encourages the US secretary of defense to invite Taiwan’s naval forces to participate in the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise, as well as allocating military aid of US$1 billion for Taiwan. The bill, which authorizes appropriations for the military activities of the US Department of Defense, military construction and other purposes, passed with 77 votes in support and 20 against. While the NDAA authorizes about US$925 billion of defense spending, the Central News Agency yesterday reported that an aide of US
RSS