The Legislative Yuan yesterday confirmed the appointment of Chou Hung-hsien (周弘憲) and Hsu Shu-hsiang (許舒翔) as the new president and vice president of the Examination Yuan respectively.
Lawmakers also approved the appointment of six members of the Examination Yuan, which is responsible for administering national civil servant exams and appointing, training and protecting the rights of civil service personnel.
Chou, the 71-year-old incumbent Examination Yuan vice president, was confirmed by a 59-53 vote in the 113-seat legislature.
Photo: CNA
Hsu, 63, received 112 votes.
Chou has been working in public office for the past 16 years, serving in various positions including in the Examination Yuan and the Executive Yuan, and is a licensed lawyer.
Supreme Prosecutors’ Office prosecutor Ker Li-ling (柯麗鈴) was the only one of President William Lai’s (賴清德) seven Examination Yuan nominees to not be confirmed by the legislature.
The six others who were approved in individual votes include former deputy mayor of Taipei and New Taipei City Teng Chia-Chi (鄧家基), and National Chengchi University Department of Public Administration professor Huang Tong-yi (黃東益).
They also include National Taiwan Ocean University and National Sun Yat-sen University emeritus professor Chiau Wen-yan (邱文彥), former deputy minister of Civil Service Lu Chiu-hui (呂秋慧), former Examination Yuan member Wang Hsiu-hung (王秀紅) and Academy for the Judiciary president Iwan Nawi.
A simple majority is required for Examination Yuan nominees to be confirmed by the legislature.
The ruling Democratic Progressive Party holds 51 seats, while the main opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) holds 52 seats.
Among the remaining seats, two are held by KMT-aligned independents May Chin (高金素梅) and Chen Chao-ming (陳超明), and eight are held by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP).
Chin, Chen and the entire KMT caucus voted against confirming Chou and Ker.
TPP lawmakers decided to vote against Ker and Iwan Nawi, TPP caucus whip Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) said before the vote.
The TPP voted against Ker due to her lack of understanding and familiarity with the Examination Yuan and its functions in prior questioning, and against Iwan Nawi, as the party believes she did not fulfill her responsibilities as commissioner in the previous term, he said.
However, TPP Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) said she voted incorrectly, accidentally marking both options for Ker on her ballot.
Additional reporting by Lin Hsin-han
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said it opposes the introduction of migrant workers from India until a mechanism is in place to prevent workers from absconding. Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) on Thursday told the Legislative Yuan that the first group of migrant workers from India could be introduced as early as this year, as part of a government program. The caucus’ opposition to the policy is based on the assessment that “the risk is too high,” KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) said. Taiwan has a serious and long-standing problem of migrant workers absconding from their contracts, indicating that
SPACE VETERAN: Kjell N. Lindgren, who helps lead NASA’s human spaceflight missions, has been on two expeditions on the ISS and has spent 311 days in space Taiwan-born US astronaut Kjell N. Lindgren is to visit Taiwan to promote technological partnerships through one of the programs organized by the US for its 250th national anniversary. Lindgren would be in Taiwan from Tuesday to Saturday next week as part of the US Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ US Speaker Program, organized to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said in a statement yesterday. Lindgren plans to engage with key leaders across the nation “to advance cutting-edge technological partnerships and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers,”