A decision was reached between the ruling and opposition caucuses at the Legislative Yuan yesterday to hold a roll-call vote on an impeachment motion against President William Lai (賴清德) on May 19.
Under the Additional Articles of the Constitution, an impeachment motion against the president or vice president in the Legislative Yuan must be proposed by at least one-half of all legislators and approved by at least two-thirds of the total membership. In other words, it requires at least 76 votes in favor for the case to be submitted to the Constitutional Court for review.
Once the case enters Constitutional Court proceedings, it must be approved by at least two-thirds of the sitting justices for the impeachment to be upheld, in which case the impeached official is removed from office.
Photo: Chen Yi-kuan, Taipei Times
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus chief executive Chuang Jui-hsiung (莊瑞雄) yesterday said the opposition is turning the constitutional system into a political stage, and the DPP caucus refuses to endorse the “political farce.”
DPP lawmakers would not attend the vote that day, he added.
After Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) announced in December last year that he would not countersign the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures (財政收支劃分法), the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) caucuses initiated impeachment proceedings against Lai.
The Legislative Yuan, where the KMT and the TPP hold a combined majority, subsequently passed a resolution on Dec. 26 last year to approve the procedures and timetable for handling the impeachment motion.
As for the plenary committee stage, public hearings were held on Jan. 14 and 15. On Jan. 21 and 22, the committee convened review meetings, during which the lead proponent explained the grounds for impeachment and the impeached party was invited to respond. However, Lai did not attend.
According to the impeachment timetable, the plenary committee would hold a hearing on Monday, inviting government officials and members of the public to attend, present their views and undergo questioning.
A second review meeting would be held on May 13 and 14, with the impeached party again invited to appear and provide an explanation.
The Legislative Yuan would hold the final vote on the impeachment motion on May 19.
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