The National Assembly is scheduled to ratify the constitutional amendments passed by the legislature last August on Tuesday. A second round of voting will be allowed if parties feel their assembly members deviate from their party's stance.
The rules were settled by the assembly's presidium, which held its second meeting yesterday afternoon. After a five-hour discussion, the steering committee decided that the 300 members of the assembly will exercise their power to confirm the constitutional amendments on Tuesday, following a report on the amendment package delivered by Deputy Legislative Speaker Chung Jung-chi (
Parties or alliances who think the first round of voting has "major flaws" can file a motion to request a second round of voting if they manage to collect signatures from 30 assembly members.
The 11-member presidium will then discuss the proposition and a second round of voting will be ordered if the presidium endorses the petition.
The result of the second round of voting will be final.
Although Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) presidium member Annie Lee (
In order to give smaller parties the opportunity to express their stance on the constitutional amendments, however, all 12 political parties and civic leagues with seats in the assembly will be able to participate in a forum at 2pm on Monday to explain their position.
Each representative will be allowed seven minutes to explain his or her party's views on the constitutional amendments.
The number of delegates the parties can send to Monday's forum is allocated in proportion to the seats each party or alliance has in the assembly.
The Democratic Progressive Party has six representatives, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) has six, the TSU three, and the People First Party three. Groups with less than five assembly seats will have only one representative.
Taipei and New Taipei City government officials are aiming to have the first phase of the Wanhua-Jungho-Shulin Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line completed and opened by 2027, following the arrival of the first train set yesterday. The 22km-long Light Green Line would connect four densely populated districts in Taipei and New Taipei City: Wanhua (萬華), Jhonghe (中和), Tucheng (土城) and Shulin (樹林). The first phase of the project would connect Wanhua and Jhonghe districts, with Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and Chukuang (莒光) being the terminal stations. The two municipalities jointly hosted a ceremony for the first train to be used
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it is fully aware of the situation following reports that the son of ousted Chinese politician Bo Xilai (薄熙來) has arrived in Taiwan and is to marry a Taiwanese. Local media reported that Bo Guagua (薄瓜瓜), son of the former member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, is to marry the granddaughter of Luodong Poh-Ai Hospital founder Hsu Wen-cheng (許文政). The pair met when studying abroad and arranged to get married this year, with the wedding breakfast to be held at The One holiday resort in Hsinchu
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon this morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan between Friday and Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The storm, which as of 8am was still 1,100km southeast of southern Taiwan, is currently expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, the CWA said. Because of its rapid speed — 28kph as of 8am — a sea warning for the storm could be issued tonight, rather than tomorrow, as previously forecast, the CWA said. In terms of its impact, Usagi is to bring scattered or
An orange gas cloud that leaked from a waste management plant yesterday morning in Taoyuan’s Guanyin District (觀音) was likely caused by acidic waste, authorities said, adding that it posed no immediate harm. The leak occurred at a plant in the district’s Environmental Science and Technology Park at about 7am, the Taoyuan Fire Department said. Firefighters discovered a cloud of unidentified orange gas leaking from a waste tank when they arrived on the site, it said, adding that they put on Level A chemical protection before entering the building. After finding there was no continuous leak, the department worked with the city’s Department
RSS