TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) asked lawmakers to confirm his nominations to the Judicial Yuan on Friday in a second attempt to appoint judicial leaders after the legislature blocked his picks last year.
The Presidential Office said that Lai requested the legislature to confirm his nominations for seven vacant roles, per Yahoo News. Lai nominated the following people to serve as the head of the judiciary and preside over the Constitutional Court:
- Tsai Chiu-ming (蔡秋明) as president
- Su Su-o (蘇素娥) as vice president, and the following as justices:
- Hsiao Wen-sheng (蕭文生)
- Cheng Chun-hui (鄭純惠)
- Lin Li-ying (林麗瑩)
- Chen Tzu-yang (陳慈陽)
- Chan Chen-jung (詹鎮榮)
Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) said Lai’s Friday nominations are expected to protect the free, democratic, and constitutional system. She said they should also enhance national security and promote judicial reform.
The opposition-controlled legislature must confirm the nominees, and each needs at least 57 out of 113 lawmakers' votes to be elected. During the last Judicial Yuan nominee vote in December, the KMT and TPP used their joint majority to reject six nominees by 51 to 62 votes.
The KMT issued a press release on Friday that said its legislators will rigorously review the nominations without bias. It said it would screen candidates to find the most neutral, objective, and suitable candidate for the position of Judicial Yuan president.
Caucus leader of the minor TPP Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) suggested the Judicial Yuan president nominee Tsai Chiu-ming would show bias toward the ruling DPP but was neutral about the others. He said he did not understand why Tsai, formerly a prosecutor, had been nominated to lead the judiciary.
DPP Caucus Leader Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) said the nominations were meaningless because the KMT and TPP had amended the constitutional law to increase the number of justices required for a ruling, which he called unconstitutional. He noted that the DPP caucus has applied for constitutional interpretation on this point.
DPP Legislator Wu Szu-yao (吳思瑤) said legislators should refrain from preconceived attacks or making assumptions about the picks.
