President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) might face an impeachment proposal after next year’s elections, as the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) could fail to secure a legislative majority, opposition lawmakers said.
According to the law, if the legislature is to propose an impeachment of the president, the proposal would need to be endorsed by more than 50 percent of lawmakers before it could be referred to the legislature’s General Assembly for review. The president can testify at the review session, but if more than two-thirds of lawmakers support an impeachment proposal, the case is forwarded to the Council of Grand Justices, with the president to be immediately dismissed if the council backs the impeachment.
There are 113 seats in the legislature, so an impeachment proposal would require the endorsement of 57, while 76 legislators would need to be in favor of the move for a case to be forwarded to the council.
Photo: Hsu Shen-lun, Taipei Times
In 2013 then-Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) asked the DPP caucus to make a motion to propose impeaching Ma over his political squabble with Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) that year. However, the proposal did not make it to the agenda, as the DPP was in the minority.
With a change of political environment expected after the legislative elections in January, it is not impossible that an impeachment drive might succeed, some DPP lawmakers said.
Judging from the “numbers,” a presidential impeachment by the legislature is possible, Soochow University professor of political science Hsu Yung-ming (徐永明) said, adding that Ma’s nomination of grand justices during the last months of his term might have been part of arrangements to make sure that he would be safe for the rest of his term.
Although the council might not support the impeachment even if it passed the legislature, it is at least an opportunity to force Ma to consider the consequences of his cross-strait policies, Hsu said.
Hsu said there are two prerequisites for making presidential impeachments:
First, there is justification to consider, he said, adding that controversy over the MeHAS City (美河市) case remains an issue to observe.
Second is the pressure on the DPP, he said. If it wins both the presidency and a legislative majority, even though the party might not have a strong will, it would be forced to make a stand under pressure from the public and smaller political parties.
Earlier this month, the council ruled that the Taipei City Government’s land expropriation to build the MeHAS City joint development housing complex in New Taipei City’s Sindian District (新店) was unconstitutional.
The Taipei city government in 1991 expropriated 239 plots of land in Sindian to build a depot to service MRT operations.
Substantial areas remained unused after the completion of the depot, and in 2007, then-Taipei mayor Ma contracted out a project to build MeHAS City to Radium Life Tech Co (日勝生).
The council said the expropriations were not entirely used for the MRT’s operations, meaning they had infringed upon the public’s right to property.
As the council ruled the MeHAS expropriation unconstitutional, “this case alone is enough to propose an impeachment of Ma, as impeachment is part of the implementation of transitional justice,” DPP Legislator Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯) said.
Tsai said that “with public support, the period after next year’s elections is of course the best time to impeach Ma,” adding that many of Ma’s policies have resulted in the nation being burdened with high debt.
“Impeachment is a weapon that the people entrusted upon the legislature as part of a system of checks and balances over leaders,” he said.
Taiwan Solidarity Union Legislator Chou Ni-an (周倪安) said the Jan. 16 elections would lead to a four-month period from the vote to the end of Ma’s term on May 20 next year.
The authority of a new legislature in January to impeach the president would deter Ma from making unilateral moves during that “four-month window,” such as signing a peace treaty with China, Chou said.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs has fined Taobao NT$1.2 million (US$36,912) for advertisements that exceed its approved business scope, requiring the Chinese e-commerce platform to make corrections in the first half of this year or its license may be revoked. Lawmakers have called for stricter enforcement of Chinese e-commerce platforms and measures to prevent China from laundering its goods through Taiwan in response to US President Donald Trump’s heavy tariffs on China. The Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee met today to discuss policies to prevent China from dumping goods in Taiwan, inviting government agencies to report. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Kuo Kuo-wen (郭國文) said
The Ministry of Economic Affairs has fined Taobao NT$1.2 million (US$36,900) for advertisements that exceeded its approved business scope and ordered the Chinese e-commerce platform to make corrections in the first half of this year or its license would be revoked. Lawmakers have called for stricter supervision of Chinese e-commerce platforms and more stringent measures to prevent China from laundering its goods through Taiwan as US President Donald Trump’s administration cracks down on origin laundering. The legislature’s Finance Committee yesterday met to discuss policies to prevent China from dumping goods in Taiwan, inviting government agencies to report on the matter. Democratic Progressive Party
Taiwan and its Pacific ally Tuvalu on Tuesday signed two accords aimed at facilitating bilateral cooperation on labor affairs, according to Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA). The governments inked two agreements in Taipei, witnessed by Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) and visiting Deputy Tuvaluan Prime Minister Panapasi Nelesone, MOFA said in a news release. According to MOFA, the agreements will facilitate cooperation on labor issues and allow the two sides to mutually recognize seafarers’ certificates and related training. Taiwan would also continue to collaborate with Tuvalu across various fields to promote economic prosperity as well as the well-being of their
Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 today amid outcry over his decision to wear a Nazi armband to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case last night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and covering the book with his coat. Lee said today that this is a serious