Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) will meet the party's National Assembly delegates tomorrow to give them moral support and demonstrate the party's determination to pursue constitutional reforms, according to Tseng Yung-chuan (曾永權), executive director of the KMT's central policy coordination committee.
The president of the National Assembly has decided to allow for representatives of each political party to explain their respective positions concerning constitutional amendments tomorrow.
On Tuesday, the assembly will vote on the package of constitutional amendment proposals passed by the legislature last August, which include reducing the number of seats in the legislature from 225 to 113, extending the tenure of legislators from three years to four years, adopting a "single seat, two ballots" legislative electoral system, phasing out the National Assembly to allow for popular referendums on future constitutional amendments, and empowering the Council of Grand Justices to screen presidential and vice presidential impeachment proposals.
Both the Democratic Progressive Party and the KMT are in favor of the package of amendment proposals. However, the package can only be approved if they are supported by three-quarters of the total delegates.
The DPP won the lion's share of the votes in the May 14 National Assembly election, gaining 42.52 percent of the ballots, or 127 out of the total 300 seats, while the KMT garnered 38.92 percent of the votes, or 117 seats. Three other pro-reform parties won another five seats.
Altogether, the pro-reform parties have gained 249 seats in the National Assembly.
The KMT will mobilize its senior officials Wednesday to "supervise" the voting process of its party members to ensure that they vote along party lines, Tseng said.
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