The People First Party (PFP) legislative caucus yesterday threatened to file an injunction with the Taiwan High Court to stop the inauguration of President Chen Shui-bian (
"Chen and Vice President Annette Lu (
The pan-blue alliance has filed one lawsuit to declare the election a fraud and another to demand a recount of the ballots.
While the recount lawsuit was aimed at suspending Chen and Lu's election on the grounds of fraud, the annulment lawsuit was targeted at the Central Election Commission and seeks to nullify the March 20 election.
PFP lawmaker Hsu Yuan-kuo (
If Chen and Lu insisted on being sworn in as the nation's new leaders -- as required by law -- Chang said that the PFP would file an injunction.
In addition to the judicial process, Chang said that the caucus was also considering amending the Presidential and Vice Presidential Election and Recall Law (
According to Philip Chou (
Chou refused to predict how the court would rule on the request, saying that the controversy was unique in the nation's history.
The PFP legislative caucus yesterday also filed a lawsuit against Presidential Office Secretary-General Chiou I-jen (邱義仁), accusing him of violating the Presidential and Vice Presidential Election and Recall Law by upgrading the nation's security status, as is customary before an election.
In addition, PFP and KMT lawmakers requested the Control Yuan form a task force to probe into whether Premier Yu Shyi-kun, who doubled as the DPP's campaign manager, had broken the law by presiding over the national security meeting, which is the responsibility of the president.
They also asked the government watchdog to investigate Chiu and National Security Council Secretary-General Kang Ning-hsiang (
Meanwhile, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislative caucus yesterday criticized remarks made by a PFP lawmaker, requesting that PFP Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) apologize for the lawmaker's comments about Chen.
Likening Chen to a despotic emperor, Emperor Chou (
DPP legislative caucus whip Tsai Huang-lang (
Branding Lee an "uncivilized instigator" and his remark "nearly insane," Cabinet Spokesman Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) requested Wang uphold justice and revoke Lee's legal immunity as a lawmaker and send him to the legislature's discipline committee for punishment.
"We condemn such inappropriate and shameless remarks about the president and we're sorry to hear such remarks uttered by a highly-educated intellectual and college professor," Lin said. "It'd be the appeasement of the worst sort if we kept quiet about such demented, defamatory and negative comments."
Typhoon Usagi yesterday had weakened into a tropical storm, but a land warning issued by the Central Weather Administration (CWA) was still in effect in four areas in southern Taiwan. As of 5pm yesterday, Tropical Storm Usagi was over waters 120km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), the southernmost tip of Taiwan proper, and was moving north at 9kph, CWA data showed. The storm was expected to veer northeast later yesterday. It had maximum sustained winds of 101kph, with gusts of up to 126kph, the data showed. The CWA urged residents of Kaohsiung, Pingtung County, Taitung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春) to remain alert to
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