Most people support the Executive Yuan’s decision to send controversial legislative reform bills back to lawmakers for reconsideration, a poll released by the Taiwan Public Opinion Foundation showed yesterday.
The revisions would give the Legislative Yuan new investigative powers, the ability to hold hearings and impose fines on public officials who refuse to attend a hearing, provide information or lie. The bills passed a third reading on May 28.
The Executive Yuan has said that the amendments contradicted past Constitutional Court interpretations.
Photo: Daniel Ceng, EPA-EFE
The poll showed that 51.9 percent of adults over the age of 20 support the Executive Yuan’s decision, foundation chairman Michael You (游盈隆) said.
“A majority of the public say the bills need to be ... discussed and reviewed by lawmakers, through which people might gain a better understanding of [their] content ... and understand why political parties are squabbling over them,” You said.
“The survey indicated that most people did not base their support [of the Executive Yuan’s decision] on their political views,” he added.
The Executive Yuan cited seven reasons for sending the amendments to the Act Governing the Legislative Yuan’s Power (立法院職權行使法) and the Criminal Code back to the legislature for reconsideration, the survey said.
“Do you agree with this action by the Executive Yuan?” the survey asked respondents.
Of the respondents, 28.2 percent said they were “very much in support” of the move, 23.7 percent said they were “in support” of it, 17.4 percent “did not support” it, 16.1 percent “did not support it at all” and 4.8 percent had no opinion.
The remaining 9.8 percent either did not know or refused to give answer.
In other words, 51.9 percent supported sending the bills back for reconsideration, while 33.5 percent opposed the move, Yu said.
Eighty-two percent of Democratic Progressive Party supporters favored the move and 11 percent did not, he said.
Among Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) supporters, 26 percent supported the Executive Yuan’s decision and 62 did not, while 35 percent Taiwan People’s Party supporters backed the move and 57 percent did not, You said.
Among people who did not support any particular party, 35 percent were in favor of the move, while the same percentage opposed it, he said.
The survey was conducted from Monday to Wednesday last week. It collected 1,070 valid responses from adults over the age of 20 and had a margin of error of 3 percentage points.
Additional reporting by CNA
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