ELECTION 2024/DPP, KMT legislative speaker candidates visit TPP caucus

Taipei, Jan. 29 (CNA) The legislative speaker candidates of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and Kuomintang (KMT) met separately with Taiwan People's Party (TPP) legislators-elect Monday to seek the backing of the minor party.

They were soliciting support for the speaker election being held on Feb. 1, when the 113 lawmakers elected on Jan. 13 will be sworn in.

With neither the KMT's 52 seats or the DPP's 51 seats enough for an absolute majority, they would both need the backing of the smaller TPP's eight seats in the newly elected Legislature to have their speaker candidate elected and get support for their priorities.

Seeking to leverage its pivotal role in the body, the TPP asked the speaker candidates of the two parties to visit its caucus and share their views on TPP proposals for legislative reforms.

Incumbent Legislative Speaker You Si-kun (游錫堃) and his deputy Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) will represent the DPP in seeking reelection separately to the speaker and deputy speaker posts.

The 2020 KMT presidential candidate Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) and former KMT Chairman Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) will represent the main opposition KMT.

Both pairs met separately with the TPP legislators-elect on Monday, with the KMT's Han and Chiang going first.

Han wrote afterwards on Facebook that he and Chiang felt welcomed by the TPP caucus and that the two parties exchanged ideas on reforming the lawmaking body.

From his perspective, he said, the value of the Legislature was not in its numbers but in its diversity, and that with reform needing allies and all three parties as equals, it was perhaps the right time for change.

Chiang echoed Han on a talk show on Yahoo TV on Monday, saying that the 8 million votes cast for legislative candidates of opposition parties in the Jan. 13 election showed the country's expectations for the legislative body.

As such, Chiang said he and Han will do their best to return the Legislature to its lawmaking duties, a job that he welcomed the TPP to do as well.

Moreover, Chiang said he was willing to withdraw his candidacy for deputy speaker and give the opportunity to a TPP legislator-elect should a member from the minor caucus show interest.

Prior to meeting the TPP caucus Monday afternoon, You said on Facebook that he personally endorsed four of the five reforms the TPP and the KMT proposed.

You said his support was issued as an individual rather than as a DPP member, adding that his public statement was issued out of respect for the TPP's disapproval of politicians conducting meetings behind closed doors.

After the meeting, You said he also had some ideas when it came to reforming the legislature, but he did not offer any details.

He did say, however, that he saw the pros and cons of the TPP's push to only have one committee convener rather than the current two.

You said most countries around the world had only one convener (or chairman) per committee, but Taiwan's two-convener system gave smaller parties a voice.

TPP Legislator-elect Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) described the meetings with the speaker candidates as harmonious and as starting points for the future workings of the Legislature, and he said that no deals were made behind closed doors.

Asked how the TPP will vote in the speaker election, Huang said the party's lawmakers will all follow the caucus' consensus, as promised by Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), the party's chairman.