By The Straits Times | Created at 2025-01-10 09:27:30 | Updated at 2025-01-10 13:56:52
4 hours ago
Taipei - Taiwan’s opposition lawmakers rejected on Jan 10 calls to reconsider a Bill that President Lai Ching-te’s party and legal experts warn is “unconstitutional” and a threat to the self-ruled island’s democracy.
The Kuomintang and Taiwan People’s Party, which control Parliament, voted in December to amend the Constitutional Court Procedure Act, raising the threshold for hearing and deciding cases.
Critics of the Bill warn it could paralyse the Constitutional Court and restrict people’s access to justice, while proponents argue the current minimum requirements for deciding cases are too low.
It was one of three legal amendments approved by the opposition bloc in December that sparked brawls among legislators and drew thousands of protesters to the streets.
There was no violence on Jan 10 as lawmakers voted 62-51 to reject a request from Mr Lai’s Cabinet to reconsider the changes.
The amended Bill requires a minimum of 10 justices in the Constitutional Court to hear a case and at least nine of them to agree.
Currently, there are only eight justices – all appointed by the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) – after seven ended their terms in October.
Mr Lai’s seven nominees to replace those justices were rejected by the Parliament.
‘Severe damage’
“As long as President Lai is willing to respect the majority party in Parliament and properly negotiate, can’t you find two justices without ‘green ideology’?“ KMT lawmaker Lo Chih-chiang said on Jan 10, referring to the DPP’s party colour.
But Premier Cho Jung-tai, who was appointed by Mr Lai, warned on Jan 9 that the changes could inflict “the most severe damage” to the island’s constitutional system and “paralyse” the court.
The amended bill will be sent to Mr Lai for signing into law, but some legal experts expect it to be challenged in the Constitutional Court before it takes effect.
“In my opinion that’s the best constitutional way to stop this tragedy,” Mr Lin Chien-chih, a research professor at Academia Sinica and an expert on constitutional law, told AFP on Jan 10.
Ms Huang Horng-shya, who previously served on the Constitutional Court, told foreign journalists on Jan 9 that the changes were “without justificaton” and “unconstitutional”.
Mr Lai’s DPP lost its parliamentary majority in the January 2024 elections that swept him into office, and has struggled to advance its agenda.
Critics of all political stripes say Mr Lai bears some responsibility for the chaos in Parliament after failing to negotiate with the opposition.
The other disputed bills passed by the opposition bloc in December include a revision to the Public Officials Election and Recall Act to raise the threshold for removing elected officials, setting off tit-for-tat threats by some DPP and KMT legislators to launch recall campaigns.
Another reduces the central government’s tax revenue allocation, which the government says could put the national security and defence funding at risk.
In 2024, reform Bills expanding Parliament’s powers pushed by the opposition sparked brawls among lawmakers and massive street demonstrations.
In October, Taiwan’s Constitutional Court struck out the most controversial sections of the law, delivering a partial victory to the DPP. AFP
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