Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) breached the rules by abruptly revoking floor time of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) members, DPP lawmakers said yesterday.
According to the legislative schedule, lawmakers were supposed to participate in a general question-and-answer session yesterday.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lo Ming-tsai (羅明才) replaced his verbal questions with written questions shortly before the session and did not attend.
Photo: CNA
Lawmakers after Lo in the order were also absent, having expected him to use his time.
However, Han closed the floor and moved on with the session after three roll calls, saying that the members scheduled to speak were not present.
DPP lawmakers told a news conference later that Han had committed “a gross act of disrespect” to lawmakers and procedure.
DPP Legislator Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) said he showed up nearly 30 minutes before his scheduled time only to find that Han had already terminated proceedings.
The speaker should have handled the absence of a lawmaker by calling a recess instead of taking away the time altogether, Hung said, adding that Han had “an arrogant attitude” when lawmakers protested his decision.
The speaker’s decision was completely unreasonable and harmed voters, whose representatives were denied a chance to speak in defense of their interests, DPP Legislator Chiu Chih-wei (邱志偉) said, adding that Han should apologize for his actions.
Han later spoke with the DPP lawmakers affected in his office.
A DPP lawmaker who attended the meeting cited Han as saying he would speak with the caucus whips of all parties to allow redress for the lost time.
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