FINGER-POINTING:The DPP caucus whip said the KMT’s Lai Shyh-bao had proposed postponing the presidential poll, but Lai said it was the PFP’s idea
Taipei Times
Date: Jun 17, 2015
By: Alison Hsiao / Staff reporter
Interparty negotiations over constitutional amendments broke down again yesterday, with young protesters,
Members of social advocacy group Taiwan March are detained by police yesterday after rushing into one of the Legislative Yuan’s halls demanding that KMT Legislator Lai Shyh-bao explain why constitutional amendment negotiations were ended. Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
angry over the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) refusal to separately review controversial amendments on the last day of the legislative session, attempting to storm into KMT caucus whip Lai Shyh-bao’s (賴士葆) office.
The Legislative Yuan had its last plenary meeting yesterday, which was already extended for the legislature to pass the amendments in time for a referendum on the reforms to take place alongside the presidential and legislative elections on Jan. 16. The failure to pass the amendments means the referendum will not take place as planned.
The party caucuses held negotiations yesterday morning intending to iron out the disagreements on how the constitutional amendments should be handled.
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus said it proposed that constitutional amendments on which the parties have reached a consensus, such as the lowering of the voting age to 18 and the lowering of the threshold for parties to secure representation in the legislature, be passed in time for the administrative procedures required by the referendum. [FULL STORY]
