The pan-blue-controlled legislature yesterday supported the appointment of Presidential Office adviser Chang Po-ya (張博雅) to head the Central Election Commission (CEC), despite a boycott by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
Sixty-nine of the 71 legislators present supported Chang’s nomination, while two cast votes in opposition to the nomination.
By law, the nomination is considered approved as long as the nominee obtains the support of more than half of lawmakers that are present at the time of vote.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
Asked for comment, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus secretary-general Lin Tsang-min (林滄敏) said not a single caucus member opposed the nomination because Chang was an experienced democracy advocate, who transcended party lines.
However, the DPP caucus, which accounts for 33 of the 112 seats in the legislature, resolved not to cast a vote.
“Our boycott of the vote means we don’t want to endorse the KMT’s nominee,” DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) said after a DPP caucus meeting earlier in the day.
The KMT caucus occupies 74 seats in the legislature, the KMT-friendly Non-Partisan Solidarity Union caucus holds three and two seats are held by independents. The occupant of the 113th seat in the legislature, Lin Cheng-er (林正二) of the pan-blue People First Party, had his status revoked in July after being found guilty of vote buying. No by-election was held to replace him.
Chang, 68, was nominated by Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) as a potential successor to former Central Election Commission chairman Rai Hau-min (賴浩敏), who resigned after being nominated by President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to be president of the Judicial Yuan.
After Chang’s nomination was approved, she visited the legislative caucuses to express her gratitude and vowed to be unbiased during elections.
Asked for her opinion on the Ministry of the Interior’s plans to introduce absentee voting for the presidential election in 2012, Chang said members of the commission and the ministry needed to discuss the matter more thoroughly.
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