The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the People First Party (PFP) legislative caucuses are teaming up to file a constitutional challenge to the budget for the Cabinet’s Forward-looking Infrastructure Development Program.
The two caucuses met at the legislature yesterday to discuss constitutional complaints drafted by their lawyers concerning the review process for the budget, which they say was unconstitutional and which they have protested since the budget was passed late last month.
The constitutional complaint would be filed in the name of “opposition parties” rather than the KMT and PFP caucuses, KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Wei-chou (林為洲) told reporters after the meeting.
The meeting was held to inform the lawyers about the details of the budget review, so that they could put forward a convincing case for the Council of Grand Justices’ to consider, Lin said.
The complaint could be finalized by Wednesday next week and submitted the following day at the earliest, he said.
The KMT holds 34 of the 113 seats in the Legislative Yuan, while the alliance between the PFP and Non-Partisan Solidarity Union Legislator May Chin (高金素梅) together occupies 4 seats, and the caucuses together meet the threshold of one-third of legislative votes to file for a constitutional interpretation.
The legal complaint reportedly measures more than 30 pages, cites instances where the Legislative Yuan has violated the Constitution and would revolve around the premise that the handling of the budget review infringed upon lawmakers’ right to exercise their authority, violating Article 63 of the Constitution, a source in the KMT said.
The complaint would call for the budget bill, worth NT$108.9 billion (US$3.621 billion), to be frozen, the source said.
The budget cleared the legislative floor last month after Legislative Speaker Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全) dismissed more than 10,000 motions filed by the KMT caucus in accordance with an ex tempore motion filed by the Democratic Progressive Party caucus.
At Wednesday’s KMT Central Standing Committee meeting, party Chairman Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) unveiled a multi-pronged strategy to supervise the Forward-looking Infrastructure Development Program.
Wu ordered the party to build alliances that can monitor projects under the infrastructure program nationwide, adding that the groups would be tasked with monitoring the implementation of the infrastructure plan and would publish their findings regularly.
The KMT’s think tanks are to organize research groups on the infrastructure plan to study it and advise the party, he added.
Wu told the meeting that county and special municipality-level alliances should include local politicians, KMT caucus members at the city and county level, academics and professionals familiar with the needs of the local economies, a KMT source said
The groups’ workshops are to review resource allocation and budget items in the program clause by clause to assess whether they fit local requirements, the source quoted Wu as saying, adding that the KMT should reach out to young people through social media and keep them informed on how the program is carried out at the local level.
Additional reporting by Shih Hsiao-kuang
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