Taiwan’s Parliament, with an opposition majority, approved this Tuesday (28) a package of reforms that gives the Legislature greater control over the government, just eight days after the inauguration of William Lai (Lai Ching-te) as the new president.
After a parliamentary session that lasted almost ten hours and, once again, had some tense moments, Parliament approved these reforms in third reading with the support of the two main opposition parties, the Kuomintang (KMT) and the People’s Party of Taiwan (PPT), who advocate closer ties between Taiwan and China.
Over the past ten days, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), to which Lai belongs and which has a strong sovereigntist profile, has attempted to obstruct the approval of these proposals, claiming that they were approved without sufficient parliamentary deliberation and that they could be “unconstitutional” in several ways. points.
The legislative package was also strongly opposed by a section of Taiwanese society, which has repeatedly demonstrated since May 17, when the bill was first debated in the House.
The content of the reforms
The reforms approved this Tuesday aim to increase the Legislative’s oversight powers over the Executive through several measures, including requiring the president to give a State of the Nation address in Parliament – which was optional until now – and answer questions from legislators.
The amendments also aim to increase parliamentarians’ investigative powers, giving them access to official documents and allowing them to summon authorities or citizens to public hearings.
People who lie to lawmakers, exceed the limits of their questions or engage in “interrogation” could be fined up to 200,000 Taiwan dollars (about US$6,200 or R$31,900).
The KMT and PPT, which have 52 and eight seats respectively, consider these measures necessary to promote checks and balances, transparency and executive accountability after eight consecutive years of the PDP in government.
The PDP, which lost the absolute majority it had and now has 51 legislators, argues that the amendments constitute an excess of the powers of the Legislature and could be used as a weapon against the president and members of his cabinet, at a particularly tense moment in the relations between Taiwan and China, which considers the island – self-governed since 1949 – as a “rebel province”.
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