Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅崐萁) today urged the Democratic People’s Party (DPP) to abandon its ongoing occupation of the Legislative Yuan, after controversy erupted over two proposed referendums.
DPP caucus chief executive Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) yesterday accused the KMT and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) of conducting a “nighttime raid” on Tuesday by failing to follow proper procedures when passing two referendum bills to a second reading.
On Tuesday, the KMT and TPP met after the usual session times to vote on the motion, with DPP members saying they were not informed.
Photo: Tien Yu-hua, Taipei Times
In the meeting, the opposition parties agreed to propose two referendums, one on opposing the death penalty’s abolition and the other about opposing martial law.
In response to the “raid,” the DPP has organized two consecutive days of sit-ins and submitted an official complaint requesting an investigation by the legislature’s Discipline Committee.
Fu said that the DPP should cease their sit-in as soon as possible, so that lawmakers “can have a good meeting.”
Fu questioned why the DPP, as the ruling party, sought to paralyze the Judicial Yuan, Executive Yuan and Legislative Yuan, asking what the party hopes to achieve by “holding everyone hostage.”
Central Election Commission Chairman Lee Chin-yung (李進勇) today told reporters before appearing at the legislature that the Legislative Yuan has never invoked Article 15 of the Referendum Act (公民投票法) to directly introduce a bill.
Given the lack of precedent and clarity, everyone should review the law calmly and rationally, Lee said.
Article 15 of the act says that if the main text and statement of reasons for a referendum are adopted in a legislative session, the proposal can be referred to the relevant authorities within 10 days.
Asked if the Legislative Yuan acted in a legitimate fashion and if such procedure could become the standard, Lee said that the commission respects the procedures of the Legislative Yuan, but that this issue needs further clarification.
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