The Taiwan People’s Party’s (TPP) announcement that it would nominate its own legislative speaker would essentially give the speakership to the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) said yesterday.
The TPP yesterday announced that it would today nominate incoming legislator-at-large Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) as legislative speaker.
It also said it would name her as deputy caucus convener, and legislators-at-large Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) as caucus convener and Chen Gau-tzu (陳昭姿) as caucus chief executive.
Photo: Tien Yu-hua, Taipei Times
Ker said that the nomination of Vivian Huang indicates that the TPP wants to give the speakership to incoming KMT legislator-at-large Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), which shows that the parties are working together and are “sinking down together.”
Huang Kuo-chang last month made four proposals that the TPP said were aimed at improving legislative transparency and oversight, the truth has come to light, he said.
The main role of the legislative speaker is congressional diplomacy, not legislative reform, and as the DPP’s caucus convener, he cannot allow his party to fall into a trap, he said.
“We will not beg you [the TPP] to support us, nor give up our principles,” he said.
Huang Kuo-chang urged the KMT and the DPP to endorse Vivian Huang, calling the nomination an olive branch to the two main parties from the TPP caucus.
“It would be a blessing for Taiwan if a speaker is decided in the first round of voting, but if a new speaker is not chosen, the TPP’s eight caucus members would not vote in the second round of balloting,” he said.
As no party won a majority in the 113-seat legislature, the KMT (52 seats plus two independent legislators) and the DPP (51 seats) would need the backing of the TPP’s eight seats to elect their speaker candidates and to pass their legislative agendas.
The KMT has nominated former Kaohsiung mayor Han, its 2020 presidential candidate, as speaker, and former KMT chairman Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) as deputy speaker, while the DPP has put forward incumbent Legislative Speaker You Si-kun (游錫?) and Deputy Speaker Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) for another term.
Regarding whether their planned abstention from participating in a potential second round of voting would mean letting Han become the speaker, Huang Kuo-chang said that the DPP should stop trying to emotionally blackmail legislators.
The DPP claiming that if the TPP legislators-at-large do not vote for You, then they are directly sending Han to the speakership is meaningless, he said, adding that the DPP should support Vivian Huang if it really cares about the nation and the people’s best interest.
Vivian Huang yesterday said that as the party made proposals for legislative reform in the past few weeks, some members of other parties tried to intimidate, challenge and slander the TPP, making it difficult to win mutual trust, so with TPP Chairman Ko Wen-je’s (柯文哲) and the party’s support, she would run for legislative speaker.
The KMT and the DPP are likely to lob “nuclear explosion level” attacks at the party, but selecting a member of the TPP as legislative speaker would deepen democracy and public interest, and create more space for rational discussion in politics, she said.
As a third force in Taiwan’s politics, the TPP does not want to be a “small pan-blue party,” nor a “small pan-green party,” so it decided that its eight legislators-at-large would vote for Vivian Huang, Ko said.
The KMT and the DPP, particularly senior members of the DPP, should think about how they will respond, he added.
Having a member from a small party become legislative speaker would help solve political struggles between the KMT and the DPP, he said.
Asked why You and Han both agreed to the TPP’s proposal of legislative reform, but the party still nominated its own candidate, instead of supporting one of them, Ko said that although You and Han met with TPP members with a smile, DPP and KMT members continued to smear the TPP.
The party’s eight legislators-at-large would vote for the same person, or they would be expelled from the party, he added.
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