Defying all forecasts, a senior presidential adviser won confirmation as Examination Yuan head while his proposed deputy failed to win approval by a wide margin.
Earlier in the day, the legislature also confirmed all 19 nominees for ranking posts in the body, the branch of government responsible for the civil service system.
The outcome, while cheering the DPP, creates a constitutional dilemma for President Chen Shui-bian (
PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES
Meanwhile, the confirmation frustrated the opposition alliance.
KMT Legislative Whip Lin Yi-shih (
Yao Chia-wen (姚嘉文), a former DPP chairman and lawmaker, secured just enough ballots for his nomination as Examination Yuan president after getting the minimum 113 votes needed for confirmation. One legislator voted against him and the other 111 abstained
"I'm glad I did not fail the appointment after all," a beaming Yao said. "As I have said, a few swing votes would decide my fate."
Yao, 64, owed his narrow victory to last-minute defections by a handful of KMT legislators. Earlier, the KMT and PFP had vowed to thwart his appointment, saying his past involvement in DPP and pro-independence activities made him unqualified for the job.
The Constitution stipulates that members of the Examination Yuan should be above partisanship and independently exercise their functions in accordance with law. Yao has said he would quit the DPP and refrain from pro-independence events if he won confirmation.
True to their threats, the opposition parties barred their lawmakers from attending the afternoon vote in an indirect show of disapproval.
As on Thursday, senior mem-bers from the KMT blocked all entrances to the legislative chamber and engaged in sporadic brawls with their DPP colleagues.
KMT Legislator Tseng-Tsai Mei-tso (曾蔡美佐) arrived in the legislature at 5:20pm and was immediately surrounded by fellow lawmakers who sought to prevent her from entering the voting venue.
The blockade drew vehement protests from DPP legislators, including Chou Ching-yu (
"You have no right to deprive her the right to vote," Chou said, struggling to help Tseng break through. "No party can engage in such conduct and call itself democratic."
Tseng later made her way to the chamber but shied away from the balloting boxes. Amid the commotion, four other KMT lawmakers -- Lu Shin-ming (呂新民), Lin Nan-sheng (林南生) Yang Wen-hsin (楊文欣) and Lin Chin-chun (林進春) -- defied the no-show order and cast their ballots.
They were believed to have provided the votes needed for Yao's triumph. The DPP and the TSU control only 102 votes in the 225-seat legislature, insufficient to pass the majority requirement despite the help of seven independent lawmakers.
KMT Aboriginal lawmakers, who attended Thursday's vote, did not show up yesterday afternoon. Caucus officials said they went hunting in the mountains together.
To the surprise of many, former interior minister Chang Po-ya (張博雅) obtained only 102 ballots, 11 short of the number needed to be confirmed as Examination Yuan vice president.
Chang, 60, now a national policy adviser, insisted that many opposition lawmakers backed her nomination but abstained from the vote at the behest of their caucuses.
"Had they participated, the result would be different," she said.
Super Typhoon Kong-rey is the largest cyclone to impact Taiwan in 27 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. Kong-rey’s radius of maximum wind (RMW) — the distance between the center of a cyclone and its band of strongest winds — has expanded to 320km, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. The last time a typhoon of comparable strength with an RMW larger than 300km made landfall in Taiwan was Typhoon Herb in 1996, he said. Herb made landfall between Keelung and Suao (蘇澳) in Yilan County with an RMW of 350km, Chang said. The weather station in Alishan (阿里山) recorded 1.09m of
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The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday at 5:30pm issued a sea warning for Typhoon Kong-rey as the storm drew closer to the east coast. As of 8pm yesterday, the storm was 670km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and traveling northwest at 12kph to 16kph. It was packing maximum sustained winds of 162kph and gusts of up to 198kph, the CWA said. A land warning might be issued this morning for the storm, which is expected to have the strongest impact on Taiwan from tonight to early Friday morning, the agency said. Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) and Green Island (綠島) canceled classes and work
KONG-REY: A woman was killed in a vehicle hit by a tree, while 205 people were injured as the storm moved across the nation and entered the Taiwan Strait Typhoon Kong-rey slammed into Taiwan yesterday as one of the biggest storms to hit the nation in decades, whipping up 10m waves, triggering floods and claiming at least one life. Kong-rey made landfall in Taitung County’s Chenggong Township (成功) at 1:40pm, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The typhoon — the first in Taiwan’s history to make landfall after mid-October — was moving north-northwest at 21kph when it hit land, CWA data showed. The fast-moving storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 184kph, with gusts of up to 227kph, CWA data showed. It was the same strength as Typhoon Gaemi, which was the most
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