Premier Cho urges opposition to reject Constitutional Court bill in revote

Taipei, Jan. 9 (CNA) Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) on Thursday urged opposition party lawmakers to vote down newly passed measures raising the threshold for Constitutional Court rulings, describing the legislative amendments as "the most severe disruption" to Taiwan's constitutional order.

At a Cabinet news conference, Cho called on lawmakers from the main opposition Kuomintang (KMT) and the smaller Taiwan People's Party (TPP) to "think over" the revisions they pushed through last December and to not "stand on the wrong side of history" by voting in favor of them once again.

The premier said the amendments constitute "the severest disruption to the nations's constitutional system."

Certain opposition lawmakers have sought to "paralyze the Constitutional Court" and prevent the court from intervening in future constitutional disputes, he said.

Cho stressed that requesting a revote on the amendments to the Constitutional Court Procedure Act was not meant to "sow division" between the executive and legislative branches, but rather to "safeguard citizens' fundamental right" to petition the Constitutional Court.

KMT and TPP lawmakers have said the amendments will ensure more rigorous reviews by the Constitutional Court and avoid future cases from being determined by only a handful of justices.

However, they also acknowledged such legal reforms were motivated by recent decisions made by the court to strike down opposition-endorsed measures that would have granted the Legislature broader investigative powers and to further restrict the use of the death penalty in Taiwan.

Currently all the judges on the court were appointed by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

Following Thursday's inter-party negotiations at the Legislature, which failed to agree on a date for the revote, the opposition party caucuses could proceed with the revote on the legislative floor as early as Friday.

The revote was requested by the Executive Yuan in an effort to have the amendments rejected, but it is unlikely to yield a different result as the ruling DPP holds only 51 seats in the 113-seat Legislature.

KMT legislative caucus Secretary-General Lin Szu-ming (林思銘) has said the party's 52 lawmakers will support the amendments in the revote.

Meanwhile, the TPP caucus has not publicly declared its stance, but some of its eight lawmakers have expressed their intention to uphold the revisions.