The Legislative Yuan yesterday voted to establish an ad hoc committee tasked with amending the Constitution, with the aim of abolishing the Control Yuan — the government body responsible for investigating and censuring official misconduct, and impeaching public officials.
The Constitutional Amendment Committee would comprise 19 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers, 17 from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and three from the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), reflecting their proportion of seats in the legislature.
The move follows a joint proposal by the KMT and the smaller TPP to amend the Additional Articles of the Constitution (中華民國憲法增修條文) to dissolve the Control Yuan.
Photo: Hsieh Chun-lin, Taipei Times
The two opposition parties argue that the body has been acting in favor of the DPP.
On June 13, TPP Chairman and legislator Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) said the proposal — which would transfer the Control Yuan’s presidential impeachment powers to the legislature — had secured sufficient backing to advance.
Huang wrote on Facebook that more than 29 lawmakers, exceeding the one-quarter threshold in the 113-seat Legislature, had co-signed the proposed constitutional amendment.
He also thanked the KMT for backing the bill.
Under the legislature’s rules, the Constitutional Amendment Committee is a required step in the review process for any constitutional amendment. Therefore, Huang proposed forming the committee in the current legislative term.
Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) said that the committee would hold its first plenary meeting at the Legislative Yuan on Aug. 25.
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