KMT Continues to paralyze the legislature

Imagine this: the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) trying to paralyze the legislature....

....one of the long-term goals of the KMT is to paralyze governance on the island, since effective governance tends to establish the independence of Taiwan. Another is to eviscerate the Presidency. The latest move against the CEC supports both. Raj over at Peking Duck reports on the KMT's latest government-busting tactics...

The problem isn't even that the KMT disagrees with the budget, it's that it wants to push its own bill forward first. The one in question would allow them to control the Central Election Committee, despite the fact that power lies with the government. So far the CEC has been fair in how it has controlled elections, but I have a feeling the KMT want to take control of it so they can manipulate it to their own will. This is obviously in relation to a DPP referendum over the KMT's stolen assets, slated to be held with the 2007 legislative elections. The KMT first used their majority on the legislative's procedural committee for referenda, refusing to acknowledge that the DPP proposal had the necessary number of signatures to proceed to the next step. So the DDP went to the executive yuan on appeal, which said there was nothing wrong with the referendum, so the proponents could start collecting more signatures for final approval. The KMT threw a big hissy fit over that. They may also still be sore due to the fact the CEC wouldn't annul the 2004 Presidential elections.

By making the make-up of the CEC reflect the number of legislators held by each party in the legislature, the KMT gives the legislature control of that agency. The KMT's strategy is obvious: centralize all the power in the legislature, counting on their overwhelming advantages at the local level to sustain a majority there. Once key agencies in the government are linked to the legislative majority, the KMT can neutralize the likely DPP hold on the Presidency by encysting the President in a shell of agencies controlled by the pro-China side. Expect more pushing to return the selection of the Premier to the legislature as well.

[Taiwan] [DPP] [KMT]