The Legislative Yuan today rejected the Executive Yuan’s proposal to reconsider an amendment to the Public Officials Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法) by a vote of 60 to 51.
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) outvoted the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), although two TPP legislators were absent from the vote.
On Dec. 20 last year, the Legislative Yuan passed the controversial bill that requires signatories of recall petitions to submit a copy of their ID card and stipulates punishments of up to five years imprisonment or a fine of up to NT$1 million (US$30,461).
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
On Jan. 24, the legislature submitted the amendments to the Cabinet for promulgation.
The Cabinet asked lawmakers to reconsider the changes, saying they would be difficult to implement.
Among other issues, the Cabinet said that the amendment would make it more difficult to recall elected officials, “exceedingly restricting” the public’s right to recall and “significantly increasing the burden” of local electoral authorities.
After cross-party negotiations, the legislature decided to reconsider the amendment today, but did not invite Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) to present the Cabinet’s rationale.
The KMT and DPP each nominated three speakers to present on behalf of their parties, while the TPP had one, followed by a vote.
After an hour and a half, 60 lawmakers from the KMT and TPP voted in favor of maintaining the original amendment, while all 51 DPP lawmakers voted to reconsider.
Regarding the two absent members of the TPP, the party said they had prior commitments and had alerted the party in advance of their absence.
The Constitution states that if more than half of the Legislative Yuan, or 57 lawmakers, vote to maintain the original bill, then the Executive Yuan must accept the resolution.
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