Lawmaker Chen Jiau-hua (陳椒華) of the New Power Party (NPP) was yesterday elected as the party’s leader, replacing Kao Yu-ting (高鈺婷), who resigned as chairwoman last week.
Chen pledged that she would do her best so that the party would grow stronger as it keeps the government in check, upholds national sovereignty and promotes the nation’s sustainable development.
Chen, a member of the party’s decisionmaking committee, was elected by the NPP’s new 15-member policymaking committee to succeed Kao and serve until Feb. 28 next year, the party said.
A handover ceremony is to be held, although the party has yet to decide when Chen is to assume her new role, it said.
On Tuesday last week, Kao said on Facebook that she was resigning because she had completed her mission.
Her resignation came less than two months after she was elected to replace Hsu Yung-ming (徐永明) as leader of the party.
Hsu, a former legislator, was implicated in a bribery scandal that surfaced in early August in relation to the ownership of Pacific Sogo Department Store.
Established in 2015, the pro-independence NPP holds three at-large seats in the 113-seat Legislative Yuan, and has 11 city and county councilors.
Yesterday, the NPP caucus proposed that a human rights committee be set up as part of the Legislative Yuan to ensure that proposed amendments do not contravene universal human rights.
Several lawmakers across party lines endorsed the proposal by showing up at a news conference hosted by the caucus.
The proposal is in line with the Organic Act of the Legislative Yuan (立法院組織法), NPP caucus whip Chiu Hsien-chih (邱顯智) said, adding that the draft has entered cross-caucus negotiation.
Additional reporting by Chung Li-hua
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