The non-profit legislative watchdog group Citizen Congress Watch (CCW) yesterday urged the Legislative Yuan to amend legislation to oblige lawmakers whose elected status had been annulled or who left their position before completing their term to return the government’s election subsidy to the state coffers.
In a press release, CCW said seven members of the seventh legislature, elected in January last year, had already left the legislature.
Three of them lost their seats after courts annulled their election in vote-buying cases, CCW said.
The three former legislators are former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators Lee E-tin (李乙廷), Chang Sho-wen (張碩文) and Chiang Lien-fu (江連福).
In addition, former KMT legislator Diane Lee (李慶安) resigned over a dual nationality controversy while former KMT legislators Lee Chi-chu (李紀珠), Lee Chia-chin (李嘉進) and Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) were appointed to government posts.
CCW said the government had to spend NT$52 million (US$1.6 million) on the by-elections for Lee E-tin, Chang and Diane Lee, adding that two more by-elections for Chiang and Wu would also be held soon.
While every legislator is entitled to government stipends for the number of votes they garner in legislative elections, the Election and Recall Act of Public Servants (公職人員選舉罷免法) does not oblige lawmakers who fail to complete their legislative term to return the funds, CCW said.
Elected representatives or officials enjoy election stipends — NT$30 for every vote they win. Wu, who is now the premier, won 64,295 votes in the legislative election and thus received about NT$1.9 million (US$59,000).
“These people are no longer legislators and have disappointed their voters. They do not deserve the stipends,” CCW said.
Seven more legislators are expected to join the year-end city and county chief elections, meaning the nation may have to hold more by-elections before the end of the term of the seventh legislature, CCW said.
“Given the rising national debt, legislators should help the people save money,” CCW added.
Death row inmate Huang Lin-kai (黃麟凱), who was convicted for the double murder of his former girlfriend and her mother, is to be executed at the Taipei Detention Center tonight, the Ministry of Justice announced. Huang, who was a military conscript at the time, was convicted for the rape and murder of his ex-girlfriend, surnamed Wang (王), and the murder of her mother, after breaking into their home on Oct. 1, 2013. Prosecutors cited anger over the breakup and a dispute about money as the motives behind the double homicide. This is the first time that Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙) has
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
TRANSPORT CONVENIENCE: The new ticket gates would accept a variety of mobile payment methods, and buses would be installed with QR code readers for ease of use New ticketing gates for the Taipei metro system are expected to begin service in October, allowing users to swipe with cellphones and select credit cards partnered with Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC), the company said on Tuesday. TRTC said its gates in use are experiencing difficulty due to their age, as they were first installed in 2007. Maintenance is increasingly expensive and challenging as the manufacturing of components is halted or becoming harder to find, the company said. Currently, the gates only accept EasyCard, iPass and electronic icash tickets, or one-time-use tickets purchased at kiosks, the company said. Since 2023, the company said it
Another wave of cold air would affect Taiwan starting from Friday and could evolve into a continental cold mass, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Temperatures could drop below 10°C across Taiwan on Monday and Tuesday next week, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. Seasonal northeasterly winds could bring rain, he said. Meanwhile, due to the continental cold mass and radiative cooling, it would be cold in northern and northeastern Taiwan today and tomorrow, according to the CWA. From last night to this morning, temperatures could drop below 10°C in northern Taiwan, it said. A thin coat of snow
RSS