FREETHINKING SPEAKER:The DPP said the decreased influence of a party over the legislative speaker would serve to guarantee the viability of the political system
Taipei Times
Date: Jan 21, 2016
By: Chen Hui-ping, Aaron Tu and Jake Chung / Staff reporters, with staff writer
The first Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Central Standing
President-elect Tsai Ing-wen, left, and vice president-elect Chen Chien-jen yesterday talk to the media in Taipei after attending the Democratic Progressive Party’s first Central Standing Committee meeting since Saturday’s elections. Photo: Lo Pei-der, Taipei Times
Committee meeting chaired by president-elect Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday affirmed that the new legislative speaker would remain neutral and not be at the whim of the party.
“The legislative speaker will not attend party events, will not hold positions within the party and will not be present in negotiations between political parties,” DPP spokesperson Juan Chao-hsiung (阮昭雄) told a post-meeting press conference.
Specifically, the person holding the position would not attend party events, the DPP Central Standing Committee meetings, national congress meetings, parades and social activism events otherwise hosted by the party and cannot stump for the party nominees in elections, Juan said.
The individual would not hold any position in the party and would refrain from attending bipartisan negotiations in the legislature, or between the legislature and the Executive Yuan, unless their presence is mandated under the Constitution or is otherwise approved by the president, Juan said. [FULL STORY]
