The nominations for Examination Yuan president, vice president and other members were approved by the legislature yesterday, despite the opposition’s absence during the vote.
Examination Yuan Vice President Wu Jin-lin (伍錦霖) and Examination Yuan member Kao Yuang-kuang’s (高永光) nominations to be president and vice president respectively were approved by a legislative majority.
With the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) refusing to cast their ballots, Wu’s nomination was approved by a vote of 68 for and one against, while Kao received 66 for, one against and two invalid ballots.
To gain approval, nominees have to receive approval votes from more than half of the 113 legislative seats. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), the majority party in the legislature, has 65 seats, the DPP has 40 and the TSU three.
The KMT and the DPP held caucus meetings before the vote.
KMT caucus whip Lin Hung-chih (林鴻池) said the party caucus had come up with a unanimous decision, and Lu Hsueh-chang (呂學樟), convener of the party’s nominee review committee, said the caucus had required every KMT lawmaker’s presence for the vote.
DPP caucus Director-General Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) said that during the one-week review, many nominees were found to be unqualified for their positions and the institution had become a KMT means of political reward.
The DPP decided not to participate in the vote as the KMT had used party discipline, which made its members irrational voters, Tsai said.
The TSU also abstained in protest against what it said was the KMT’s abuse of the system by calling unnecessary extraordinary sessions and nominations.
The remaining 19 Examination Yuan member nominees were all approved yesterday afternoon.
Of those 19 nominees, two of the three nominees who received the least number of votes (65 each out of 69 ballots cast) had during the question-and-answer review session expressed a relatively positive view of Academia Sinica research fellow Huang Kuo-chang’s (黃國昌) involvement in the student-led Sunflower movement.
Tsai Liang-wen (蔡良文) answered in the negative to KMT Legislator Lu Hsueh-chang’s question on whether Huang had violated the Civil Service Administrative Neutrality Act (公務人員行政中立法) by participating in the movement, while Hwang Giin-tarng (黃錦堂) called for more room for academics to participate in civil movements.
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