TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The Legislative Yuan on Tuesday voted down all seven presidential nominees for the Judicial Yuan and the Council of Grand Justices, including Chang Wen-chen (張文貞) as president and Yao Li-ming (姚立明) as vice president.

Each nominee needed at least 57 out of 113 lawmakers' votes to be elected. The opposition KMT and TPP used their joint majority to reject six nominees by 51 to 62 votes. 

Liu Ching-yi (劉靜怡) received votes from eight TPP lawmakers, but the DPP aligned with the KMT to defeat her with 105 votes, Radio Taiwan International reported.

The Council of Grand Justices counts 15 members. The Judicial Yuan president, vice president, and five other justices left office Oct. 31. 

When President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) nominated the candidates in August, he praised them as legal experts with a professional background who would protect the Constitution. However, the KMT described the nominees as DPP supporters in favor of ending capital punishment despite public support for the death penalty. 

The opposition described the outcome of Tuesday’s vote as a show of no confidence in the Lai administration, CNA reported.

The president will have to name new nominees, who must undergo the same review process and questioning by lawmakers. The Legislative Yuan recently passed opposition amendments stipulating that the nomination of the new candidates should occur within two months. The government has not said whether it would try to overturn those amendments.