The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) will not finalize its stance on the fate of the Examination Yuan and the Control Yuan until after it holds intraparty discussions, KMT spokeswoman Hung Yu-chien (洪于茜) said yesterday.
Possible scenarios for the two branches of government include temporarily freezing them, abolishing them or shifting their operations to a task-based model, Hung said.
The KMT would hold more discussions after it establishes a constitutional amendment committee, which would be comprised of party members and academics, she said.
Photo: Hsieh Chun-lin, Taipei Times
Hung made the remarks after Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) on Friday said that as all Control Yuan nominees have been approved, the KMT should work with the DPP on abolishing the Examination Yuan and Control Yuan, while allowing the current Control Yuan staff to serve their terms as the final members of the top government watchdog.
The legislature on Friday approved former Presidential Office secretary-general Chen Chu (陳菊) as Control Yuan president along with 26 other nominees, following days of squabbles and scuffles between the DPP and the KMT over Chen’s nomination.
The KMT caucus has never officially discussed how — or if — the Examination Yuan and Control Yuan should continue, but several party members have opposed abolishing them, as they say it would undermine the Constitution, which states that the government should operate five branches as a separation of powers, sources said.
The KMT’s think tank also objects to abolishing the branches, but supports making some adjustments, such as downsizing staff and changing the requirements for nominating its members, they said.
Although the KMT has not formed a consensus on the matter, it is difficult for some party members to agree with KMT caucus whip Lin Wei-chou (林為洲), who — along with a few other KMT lawmakers — has expressed a willingness to cooperate with the DPP on abolishing the two branches, they said.
As the party whip, Lin should know that what he says represents the opinions of the party, as opposed to only his, the sources said.
KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Yi-hua (林奕華) said that petitions to drive constitutional amendments are conducted by collecting signatures from individual lawmakers, not from party caucuses, so lawmakers can initiate a petition by themselves.
The petition must be signed by at least a quarter of the nation’s lawmakers, before being sent to the Legislative Yuan’s Constitutional Amendment Committee for further review.
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