The Legislative Yuan yesterday confirmed its list of conveners for the 12 standing committees this session, with the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) dominating with 13 of the 36 seats up for grabs.
Seats are allocated based on the proportion of seats each party holds in the 223-seat legislature.
The DPP will convene each legislative committee and gained an additional seat on the Science, Technology and Information Committee.
The 36 convenerships were decided yesterday according to an inter-party consensus.
Independent Legislator Su Ying-kuei (蘇盈貴), who was seeking a seat on the Judiciary Committee, criticized the selection process, saying the interests of independent legislators were ignored.
"The minority voice at the legislature needs to be respected, although the principle of obeying the majority decision should be emphasized," said Su, a former convener of the Judiciary Committee.
"The protest was made to remind the major parties that conveners should be selected through a vote rather than private negotiations," Su said.
"The point is that the conveners were determined by a fair election [thanks to the protest]," he said after losing his bid for a second convenership.
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) obtained convenerships in 10 legislative committees.
Its pan-blue counterpart, the People First Party (PFP), obtained convenerships in eight committees.
The 12-member Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) won three seats after negotiations.
The TSU last week complained about its inferior position in the convenership negotiation and demanded that conveners of the most popular committees -- such as budget, economy, health and environment -- be appointed on a rotational basis.
The nine-person "Independent Alliance" won convenership in two legislative committees, one less than in the previous legislative session. They gave up the convenership post in exchange for the advancement of three Aboriginal-related bills.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
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