The secretary-general to the Executive Yuan said yesterday that, while the Cabinet will decide on Friday whether to overrule the Taipei City Government's decision to postpone its borough-warden election, it was already "inclined toward doing so."
Speaking to reporters shortly before the Ministry of the Interior advised the Cabinet yesterday that the option of overruling the city government was available to it, Lee Ying-yuan (李應元) said that, "The Cabinet is inclined towards overruling the city government's decision but will announce its final decision Friday."
An Executive Yuan decision to overrule the city would be the first time in Taiwan's history that central government has overruled a local government's decision.
After issuing two written demands to the Taipei City Government in early and mid-April, to both of which it received no response, the interior ministry yesterday made a written submission to the Executive Yuan. The statement says that the city government's decision to postpone its borough-warden elections violates the Law on Local Government Systems (地方制度法) and that the Executive Yuan may therefore overrule the city government's decision.
Premier Yu Shyi-kun, speaking in the Legislative Yuan yesterday, stressed that "the Executive Yuan will make a decision in accordance with the relevant regulations, and this definitely has nothing to do with [attacking Taipei City] Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九)."
Responding to the ministry's move, the Taipei City Government said that it would apply for an interpretation by the Council of Grand Justices of Article 83 of the Law on Local Government Systems if central government overruled it, which would result in the postponement of the elections in any case until the interpretation is released.
The Taipei City Council passed its Autonomous Regulation Governing the Taipei City Borough Organization on April 3. The legislation postpones the elections -- originally scheduled for June 8 -- until a redrawing of Taipei's borough boundaries has been completed.
The city government has argued that changing the date of local elections is an inherent right of local governments, but the interior ministry rejects the argument and says that the city's reasons for the move is inadequate.
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