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Su announces no confidence motion
By Chris Wang and Mo Yan-chih / Staff reporters
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)
Chairman Su Tseng-chang, center, accompanied by DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming,
second left, and other members of the DPP caucus, holds a press conference at
the party’s headquarters in Taipei yesterday, announcing the party’s intention
to initiate a motion of no confidence against the Cabinet.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)
Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) announced yesterday that the party would be
initiating a motion of no confidence against the Cabinet as early as today to
“have the Taiwanese be the judges of President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九)
administration with ballots in their hands.”
“We are initiating the proposal as a constitutional measure to counter the
constitutional crisis created by Ma and to stabilize domestic politics... Since
the people no longer trust the current administration, a no-confidence motion
against the Cabinet is an inevitability,” Su told a press conference, held at
the DPP headquarters to coincide with the national day ceremony.
More than 70 percent of the voters saw Ma and Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) as
incompetent for lying, obstruction of justice and infringement of the
Constitution during the ongoing political strife between Ma and Legislative
Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) which also involved wiretaps on the legislature, Su
said.
The DPP legislative caucus is expected to propose a no-confidence vote in a
Legislative Yuan plenary after collecting the signatures of more than 38 —
one-third of the current 112 — lawmakers.
The Additional Articles of the Constitution stipulates that 72 hours after a
no-confidence motion is made, an open-ballot vote must be taken within 48 hours.
The motion is deemed passed if at least half the lawmakers vote for it, which
means the DPP would need 57 votes for the motion to pass.
Controlling only 40 seats, the DPP would need votes from other opposition
parties and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) to pass the threshold. With the
Taiwan Solidarity Union, the People First Party and at least one independent
lawmaker lending support for a combined 46 or 47 votes, the DPP would need to
pry away 10 or 11 votes from the KMT.
Several DPP members and political analysts observed that the action could
paradoxically benefit Ma because the threshold is high and because no motion of
no confidence could be proposed within a year if the current proposal fails.
Additionally, they observed that a successful vote, which would lead to
dissolution of the legislature, would likely help Ma remove Wang from his
position as speaker and control the KMT caucus.
However, Su appeared to be unfazed, reiterating that the motion was “the right
thing to do” and saying that the party “was not giving up on other options” —
impeachment and recall — as well.
Ma and Jiang lied to the Taiwanese, collaborated with judicial officials to
remove the legislative speaker with information obtained by alleged illegal
wiretapping and tried to infringe on legislative power, all of which could have
led to their resignation in other democracies, Su said.
When the DPP could submit the proposal would be decided by the latest
developments in the legislature, where the KMT caucus voided the agenda of the
legislative plenaries today and on Tuesday. The date and meeting agenda of the
next plenary is awaiting further party negotiations.
The DPP initiated a motion of no-confidence against former premier Sean Chen
(陳?) in September last year. The party lost the vote, 66 to 46, but Chen was
eventually replaced by Jiang in February.
The KMT yesterday slammed the DPP for filing its motion on Double Ten National
Day, and criticized the party for boycotting Jiang’s report on the legislative
floor.
Meanwhile, in response, the Presidential Office yesterday expressed regret over
the DPP’s plan to initiate a no-confidence motion against the Cabinet, and urged
the party to present solutions to foster political stability and economic growth
instead.
Presidential Office spokesperson Lee Chia-fei (李佳霏) cited Ma’s National Day
speech and said the government aimed to find viable ways forward for Taiwan by
facilitating economic liberalization while raising the competitiveness of the
service sector after the nation signed the cross-strait service trade agreement
with China this year.
“The DPP should abandon its political manipulation and join the government to
fight for the economy. This will be what the public really wants,” she said.
Separately yesterday, Wang said he respected the DPP’s right to initiate the
motion, and said the legislature will handle the motion in accordance with
standard procedures.
If the motion is filed, there will be a three-day “cooling off period” to allow
the DPP to retrieve the motion. If the party insisted on initiating the motion,
the legislature will hold a meeting to review the motion on the fourth day and
vote on it on the fifth day, he said.
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