Opposition lawmakers yesterday voted to extend the legislative session for two months to July 31, prompting accusations from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) that they were attempting to avoid recall votes.
DPP caucus chief executive Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) said that “everyone knows” why the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is seeking to extend the session, given the fear of recalls among KMT lawmakers.
The DPP would support extending the session for bills that benefit the country and people’s livelihoods, but not for the benefit of the KMT, Wu said.
Photo: Lo Pei-de, Taipei Times
While the country faces increased tariffs from the US and people hope for change, DPP lawmakers want to take a vacation, KMT Legislator Wang Hung-wei (王鴻薇) said.
The DPP has yet to grant Taiwan’s workers more holiday leave, yet its lawmakers want to take a two-month vacation, Wang said.
That would be the longest extension in the history of the Legislative Yuan, DPP Legislator Wang Ting-yu (王定宇) said on Facebook.
Lawmakers who only work when they are in session “have a very easy life,” he added.
The KMT proposal stems from the party’s fear of the recall movement and intention to shelter under the “protective umbrella” of the Legislative Yuan, DPP Legislator Jean Kuo (郭昱晴) wrote on Facebook, asking which bills justified an extended session.
The Legislative Yuan could also seek an extraordinary session rather than extending the current session, Kuo said.
Meanwhile, opposition lawmakers yesterday passed a proposal to hold a referendum over restarting the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant in Pingtung County, the last nuclear facility to be decommissioned in Taiwan.
The Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) and the KMT passed the bill in a vote split down party lines.
The Central Election Commission would be tasked with holding the referendum.
Taiwan on Sunday began the permanent deactivation of the plant’s No. 2 nuclear reactor, the nation’s final operational unit.
This referendum, one of the two proposed on April 18 by the TPP, asks if the public agrees that the Ma-anshan plant should be kept operational, assuming authorities certify its safety.
The other bill asks if voters agree that the government should legalize voting by absentee ballot in the Republic of China’s “free territories.”
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