TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — More protests are planned at the Legislative Yuan in the coming week. 

The news comes as lawmakers hear challenges from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to the legislative reform bill pushed through by the Blue-White coalition of the Kuomintang (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). 

On Friday (June 14) at an event in Banqiao, New Taipei, civic groups, led by the Taiwan Citizen’s Front, held a rally and called for activists of the “Bluebird Movement” to return to protest at the Legislative Yuan from June 19-21. 

During the first two days, Taiwan Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) will take questions from lawmakers and clarify the Lai administration’s opposition to the controversial legislation. Then a vote wil be taken on the Cabinet's challenge to the reform package, scheduled for Friday (July 21).

At the event in Banqiao, leaders of Taiwan Citizen’s Front criticized the KMT and TPP for damaging the country’s legislative process and democratic norms. They called on Taiwanese to come out in great numbers and reject the expansion of the Legislative Yuan’s powers.

Hsiao Jen-you (蕭任佑), a Bluebird activist representing the civic group from New Taipei, said the measures passed by the KMT-TPP alliance contradict the principle of separation of powers between government branches, per UDN. 

A major criticism of the KMT-TPP legislative reforms is that the Legislative Yuan will be given power to form investigative committees with subpoena power, which can recommend charges against officials in other branches of government, and to vote them out of office. In Taiwan’s governmental model, the Control Yuan is the organ responsible for oversight and investigation of the other government branches. 

KMT legislators have denied the reforms represent a power-grab. KMT lawmaker Hsu Chiao-hsin (徐巧芯) said the measures will create a more equitable system of checks and balances between the legislative and the executive branches, reported New Talk. 

In response to the Taiwan Citizen’s Front call for renewed protests this week, KMT lawmaker Hsu Yu-chen (許宇甄) criticized the group and the Lai administration, claiming that a majority of the public supports constitutional reforms. Hsu said the DPP had eight years under the Tsai administration to implement legislative reforms, but failed to do so, and the DPP is simply obstructing the legislature, per reports.

Despite the public outcry and protests that gave birth to the Bluebird Movement, it is unlikely that the DPP or Cabinet will be able to stop the passage of the legislation, barring the defection of several TPP or KMT legislators. However, the Cabinet has the opportunity to clarify objections and may be able to affect a revision of the legislation, temporarily delaying implementation. 

If the DPP and Premier Cho Jung-tai are unable to forestall the legislative process, there are two more options available to the Lai administration. 

The first is for the premier to resign from office, however, this would only act as a temporary delay, unless the Lai administration also chose to dismiss the entire Legislative Yuan, effectively voiding all pending legislation in the current session. This measure is very unlikely because it could have catastrophic political consequences for the DPP.

The second, and far more likely move on the part of the Lai administration is to promulgate the law, and then forward it to Taiwan’s Constitutional Court for judicial review. Although the process could take months, the Constitutional Court could rule the expanded legislative powers unconstitutional and overturn the law.