Scuffles erupted in the legislature again today, as Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers tried to stop deliberation of amendments that seek to make recalling elected officials more difficult.
DPP lawmakers arrived at 5:30am to occupy the podium at the Internal Administration Committee, which was scheduled to discuss proposed changes to the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法).
The proceedings had been postponed to today following similar scenes on Thursday.
Photo: Tien Yu-hua, Taipei Times
The ruling party lawmakers were protesting bills that would make it more difficult to recall elected officials, including one proposed by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Hsu Yu-chen (許宇甄) that would require recall votes to surpass the elected official’s original election ballot total to be successful.
Although Hsu’s bill was not on the agenda for today’s meeting, another bill proposed by DPP Legislator Wu Ping-jui (吳秉叡) making it harder to launch a recall petition was to be discussed, despite having been withdrawn.
By 12pm, deliberations had not yet begun as DPP lawmakers held their protest and independent Legislator May Chin (高金素梅), who is chairing the committee this week, had yet to arrive.
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
DPP Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) earlier visited National Taiwan University Hospital to treat an injury to her chin after a confrontation with KMT Legislator Wang Hung-wei (王鴻薇).
Lin said KMT Legislator Hsu Chiao-hsin (徐巧芯) grabbed her while she was at the podium, and Wang came over to join, slapping her a few times and pulling her hair.
Lin said she planned to go to the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office in the afternoon to file assault charges against Wang.
Wang later accused Lin of being the one to initiate a confrontation, saying she tried to stop her from coming to assist Hsu Chiao-hsin, who was being “throttled” by another DPP lawmaker.
Taiwan People's Party Legislator Mach Ngoc Tran (麥玉珍), who was criticized by DPP legislators for not staying for the meeting on Thursday, appeared at 9am and took a photograph with KMT lawmakers before leaving after about 10 minutes.
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