Amid chaos, bills on president's report to Legislature closer to passage

Taipei, May 18 (CNA) After a day of scuffles and disputes, the Legislative Yuan on Friday completed the second reading of amendments that would require the president to make an annual state of the nation address in front of lawmakers and answer questions on the spot.

That put those bills within one step of passing a third reading needed for them to become law.

The votes on the amendments to Article 15 of the Law Governing the Legislative Yuan's Power proposed by the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) and Taiwan People's Party (TPP) were finally held close to midnight after long breaks due to intermittent scuffles and procedural stall tactics by the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) then announced the end of Friday's legislative floor session that started at 9 a.m., and said the proceedings will resume on May 21.

Article 15 of the law on the Legislature's power stipulates that the president can opt to deliver an annual state of the nation address at the Legislative Yuan, though no president has ever agreed to do so, but the opposition parties' amendment would require it to be mandatory.

The amendments would also allow the president to be questioned about the address by lawmakers on the spot, like other Cabinet officials, rather than having them raise questions that the president can respond to at a later date if he or she consents to doing so, as the law currently provides for.

It is expected that a third and final reading on the two amendments and the vote on other bills will take place on May 21.

Friday's floor session had been scheduled to vote on several controversial bills that included a set of "legislative reform" amendments.

The bills sparked disputes not only because of their content but due to the way they were brought to the second reading vote.

The DPP said they were rushed through the Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee sent to the legislative floor for second and third readings without any deliberation in committee.

Bills sent to the floor without being hashed out in committee, especially those with major consequences, would usually be subject to a set period of time before a second reading reserved for cross-caucus negotiations where the proposed amendments are discussed.

DPP Legislator Wu Szu-yao (吳思瑤) on early Saturday accused the opposition of setting "a terrible precedent" of allowing the bills to be voted on the legislative floor without such a process.

"The final combined version of the bills proposed by the KMT and TPP was nowhere to be seen by most of lawmakers when the floor vote was taking place," she said.

The DPP accused KMT legislative caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅崐萁) and TPP caucus whip Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) of only finalizing the proposed amendments on Friday morning after summarizing and revising different versions proposed by KMT lawmakers and the TPP caucus.

KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Mong-kai (洪孟楷) said in response that the "legislative reform bills" all went through the committee, cross-caucus negotiations, and public hearings.

Wu also said the votes during Friday's session were done by shows of hands without recording the names of voters, "which is extremely rare on the legislative floor."

DPP lawmakers shouted several times during the session that the number of lawmakers who voted and the voting results were inaccurate, though there were no suggestions that the outcomes were affected.

The KMT has 52 seats in the 113-seat Legislature, to 51 for the DPP, eight for the TPP, and two for independents ideologically aligned with the KMT.

A KMT-TPP alliance gave it a solid majority to carry it through Friday's votes.

Votes were cast by show of hands apparently because KMT lawmakers had to stay on the podium to keep it from being occupied by DPP legislators, which would have allowed them to block the proceedings.