Taiwan's opposition seeks to abolish Control Yuan

Taipei, June 13 (CNA) A constitutional amendment proposed by Taiwan's two opposition parties to abolish the Control Yuan and transfer its powers of presidential impeachment to the Legislature has received enough support to move forward, according to a lawmaker who sponsored the bill.

The amendment was sponsored by Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) of the Taiwan People's Party (TPP) and Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強) of the Kuomintang (KMT), whose parties allege that the Control Yuan has been acting in favor of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

Huang announced the proposed amendment during a press conference at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei Friday morning, during which he said the Taiwanese public has had enough with the Control Yuan members acting in the interests of the DPP.

He later wrote about the bill's progress in a Facebook post at 10:21 a.m.

"The proposed constitutional amendment to abolish the Control Yuan has been co-signed by more than 29 lawmakers, the legally required threshold. It has been formally submitted," wrote Huang, who also serves as TPP chairman.

According to the proposed amendment to the Additional Articles of the Constitution of the Republic of China, which shapes the existing government structure in Taiwan, the Control Yuan's powers of impeachment, censure and audit will be moved to the Legislative Yuan.

The TPP holds only eight seats in the 113-seat Legislature, and Huang thanked KMT lawmakers who backed the bill.

When asked about KMT Chairman Eric Chu's (朱立倫) previous statements about using budgetary measures, instead of a constitutional amendment, to address questions surrounding the works of the Control Yuan, Huang said he did not discuss the proposal with Chu.

The TPP has worked with the KMT and two independent lawmakers to form an opposition majority of 62-51 seats that has repeatedly challenged the DPP administration, including a heavy cut of the central government's proposed budget for 2025.

Among the cuts was a slashing of the Control Yuan's operational expenses for 2025 from the proposed NT$240 million (US$8.11 million) to NT$10 million.

DPP legislative caucus whip Wu Szu-yao (吳思瑤) said on Friday that abolishing the Control Yuan has been the ruling party's long-held position, which was also put forward in constitutional reforms discussed during the previous term of the Legislature.

However, Wu questioned the reasons behind the opposition parties' proposal, saying changing the government structure mapped out in the Constitution is a serious issue, which should not be exploited as politically motivated retaliation.

During the Legislature's previous four-year term, a raft of constitutional reforms was discussed, but only one proposal cleared the DPP-controlled legislative body -- lowering the voting age from 20 to 18.

The proposed amendment was put to a vote along with the local government elections in November 2022.

Despite bipartisan support, only 5.65 million voters backed the proposed revision, which required, at the time, nearly 9.62 million "yes" votes from half of all eligible voters as stipulated in the Additional Articles of the Constitution.