The DPP yesterday said if the alleged secret pact between KMT Chairman Lien Chan (
DPP Secretary-General Chang Chun-hsiung (
Chang yesterday called a press conference to respond to rumors that Lien has promised Soong the premiership if the pan-blue alliance's joint ticket wins next year's election.
The Constitution stipulates that the posts of the president and vice president should be taken by two individuals so that when the president dies or is unable to perform his duties, the vice president can succeed the president; or if both the presidential and vice presidential posts are absent, the premier should then succeed the presidential office.
"If the vice president concurrently serves as the premier, such a double protection device to preclude the possibility that the nation loses its leader granted by the Constitution would be seemingly nullified," Chang said.
The Council of Grand Justices also made clear in its Interpretation Number 419 that the vice president taking a concurrent position as premier doesn't fully correspond with the purpose of the Constitution, Chang said.
Nothing that the late vice presidents Chen Cheng (
"Those were exceptional cases and were not customary practices according to the Constitution. Therefore, they are not pertinent in the context of our society now," Chang said.
Rumors of the alleged under- the-table deals between Lien and Soong suggest that Lien promised he would run only in next year's presidential election and give Soong the chance to run in 2008 and as well as allow Soong to become the party chairman if the KMT and the PFP eventually merge.
DPP Secretary-General Lee Ying-yuan (李應元) said yesterday that the combination of Lien and Soong was basically a consequence of power sharing and that there was nothing surprising about seeing them dividing up the "political booty" once they were elected.
TSU legislative caucus whip Lo Chih-ming (
"It is a telltale sign of dissatisfaction and fears within the KMT regarding Soong's monopoly of power in the pan-blue alliance," Lo said.
DPP Legislator Wang Tuoh (
DPP Legislator Tsai Huang-liang (
Tsai said after KMT Vice Chairman Vincent Siew was attacked by his colleagues for agreeing to serve as an economic adviser to President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), and Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-Pyng met with Soong over the Council of Grand Justices nominees, Chiang will the next target to be bullied.
Yesterday Chiang denied Tsai's comments, which he said were simply intended to upset the harmony of the KMT.
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