The Legislative Yuan today held a second hearing in the impeachment case against President William Lai (賴清德), who was not in attendance.
Lai, the first Taiwanese president to be targeted by an impeachment motion, declined an invitation to attend, while the ruling Democratic Progressive Party also boycotted the hearing.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) lawmakers on Dec. 19 last year moved to impeach Lai, accusing him of dereliction of duty and unconstitutional actions, after he refused to ratify amendments that had passed a third reading in the legislature.
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
Public hearings were held on Jan. 14 and 15, with plenary committee reviews on Jan. 21 and 22. Lai did not attend those either.
The Legislative Yuan has now held two hearings, yesterday and today, and voting is scheduled to commence on Tuesday next week.
Seven legislators spoke at today’s hearing, all from the KMT.
Deputy Legislative Speaker Johnny Chiang (江啟臣), of the KMT, said that the Legislative Yuan had invited Lai to the second hearing in accordance with Article 43 of the Act Governing the Legislative Yuan's Power (立法院職權行使法), but was told by the Presidential Office that he would not attend.
According to a consensus reached by legislative caucuses, if the impeached party is not in attendance, legislators would speak on behalf of each party caucus, he said.
As DPP lawmakers also did not attend the hearing, KMT and TPP lawmakers would present their views at the meeting, he said.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus chief executive Chuang Jui-hsiung (莊瑞雄) said that as political infighting continues, DPP lawmakers would not play along with the opposition’s “farce” by attending the hearings, but would express their rejection of the impeachment case at next week’s vote.
Impeaching the president requires an incredibly high threshold, he said, adding that the KMT’s arguments remain repetitive and unoriginal, and treat highly political issues as grounds for impeachment.
KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) said that the impeachment movement aims to protect democracy, and in Taiwan, no one figure is above the Constitution or the law.
It is unacceptable for a democratically elected president to refuse to be bound by democratic institutions, he added.
Under the Additional Articles of the Constitution of the Republic of China (中華民國憲法增修條文), an impeachment motion against the president or vice president introduced in the Legislative Yuan must be proposed by at least one-half of all legislators and approved by at least two-thirds of all legislators.
In other words, it would require at least 76 votes in favor for the case to be submitted to the Constitutional Court for review.
The DPP holds 51 of the 113 legislative seats, while the KMT holds 54 and the TPP eight.
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.
Additional reporting by Lo Kuo-chia
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