TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The reported selection of the Kuomintang’s (KMT) former Taitung County Magistrate Justin Huang (黃健庭) as vice president for the top government watchdog has been met with opposition from both within his own party and from the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) — leading to the cancellation of a news conference announcing the nomination Friday (June 19).

The Control Yuan, whose 29 members are nominated by the president but must be ratified by the Legislative Yuan, will be headed by Chen Chu (陳菊), the former Kaohsiung mayor and ex-presidential secretary general. However, the choice of Huang as her deputy, first reported in the media Thursday (June 18) evening, triggered negative reactions from both sides of the political spectrum.

The KMT announced it was suspending Huang’s membership of the party because he had not asked for permission from its leadership before accepting the Control Yuan appointment, CNA reported. The party office in Taitung County will be asked to take further suitable disciplinary action.

In addition, the choice of Huang to join the top government watchdog was also met with disapproval from within the ruling DPP. Sunflower Movement leader Lin Fei-fan (林飛帆), who now serves as the party’s deputy secretary general, said the former Taitung County chief was not a suitable kind of person to serve on the Control Yuan and called on the government to think again.

A news conference scheduled by the Presidential Office for 3 p.m. on Friday was canceled as the criticism of Huang’s selection grew, reports said.

The politician’s stance on a controversial beach hotel project in Taitung County and his sentence and fine for a far-ranging scandal involving payments by pharmaceutical companies to legislators were the major reasons for the opposition against his appointment.