KMT, TPP to begin impeachment proceedings against President Lai Friday

Taipei, Dec. 23 (CNA) Taiwan's opposition parties have said they will open impeachment proceedings against President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) Friday over his failure to implement recent legal amendments, despite practical obstacles that make their passage a near impossibility.

In a meeting of the Legislature's Procedure Committee Tuesday, the Kuomintang (KMT) and the smaller Taiwan People's Party (TPP) approved scheduling a review of an impeachment motion against Lai at a plenary session on Friday.

The move came after Lai failed on Dec. 15 to promulgate a recent legal amendment that would have allowed local governments to receive a larger share of government revenues, arguing that the legislation would hurt Taiwan's fiscal sustainability.

• KMT, TPP vow to impeach President Lai

Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) had declined to countersign the legislation earlier that day, which Lai cited as the pretext for not publicly announcing the law, normally considered to be routine.

Speaking to reporters after the committee meeting, Lo Chih-chang (羅智強), secretary-general of the KMT legislative caucus, said the exact plans for the impeachment process still had to be worked out with the TPP.

"There are currently a few directions [we are looking in], including inviting President Lai to the Legislature to give an explanation," Lo said. "We are also leaning toward holding public hearings -- a series of events across the country."

"As for the final impeachment vote, it will probably take place around May 20" -- the two-year anniversary of Lai's inauguration -- "though all of this still needs to be coordinated" with the TPP, Lo said.

• Lai warns revenue-sharing amendment would cripple Taiwan's finances

Lo's proposal of nationwide public hearings -- which mirror similar events held by DPP supporters in a failed campaign to recall KMT lawmakers last summer -- as well as the steep practical hurdles to impeaching a president, suggest that the opposition's goal could be mainly political.

According to the Additional Articles of the Constitution, a motion to impeach the president or vice president is initiated after gaining the backing of half of the total number of lawmakers.

It must then gain the approval of two-thirds of the total number of lawmakers before being forwarded to the grand justices who sit on Taiwan's Constitutional Court to be adjudicated.

The KMT and TPP together control 60 of the 113 seats in the Legislature. The ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has 51 seats, while the remaining two are held by KMT-leaning independent lawmakers, making a two-thirds majority in any vote highly unlikely.

Even if the impeachment motion passes the Legislature, it remains uncertain when the Constitutional Court -- currently operating with only eight of its usual 15 justices -- will resume hearing cases, despite last Friday's ruling that the 10-justice threshold for adjudication is unconstitutional.

During the committee hearing, DPP lawmaker Wang Yi-chuan (王義川) said the KMT and TPP know they don't have the votes to impeach, and are just using the proceedings as an excuse to bring Lai before the Legislature and "yell at him."