Legislature takes step in bid to abolish Control Yuan

Taipei, Aug. 8 (CNA) The Legislative Yuan decided Friday to set up an ad hoc committee tasked with revising the Constitution of the Republic of China (Taiwan) in a bid to change the constitution to get rid of the body that investigates and censures government wrongdoing and impeaches public officials.

The Constitutional Amendment Committee will consist of 19 main opposition Kuomintang (KMT) lawmakers, 17 lawmakers of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and three from the Taiwan People's Party (TPP), based on their proportion of seats in the lawmaking body.

The move came after the KMT and smaller TPP joined forces to propose an amendment to the Additional Articles of the Constitution of the Republic of China that would end the existence of the Control Yuan.

The two opposition parties believe that the Control Yuan has been acting in favor of the DPP.

On June 13, lawmaker and TPP Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) said the constitutional amendment to abolish the Control Yuan and transfer its powers of presidential impeachment to the Legislature had received enough support to move forward.

In his Facebook account, Huang wrote that the proposed constitutional amendment has been co-signed by more than 29 lawmakers, or over a quarter of the 113-seat legislative body, the legally required threshold.

He also thanked the KMT for backing the bill.

Under the Legislature's rules, the Constitutional Amendment Committee is a necessary part of the review process for constitutional amendments.

As such, Huang later proposed setting up the committee in the current Legislative term.

According to Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) on Friday, members of the committee will hold its first plenary meeting at the Legislative Yuan on Aug. 25.