TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Opposition KMT and TPP lawmakers have placed separate impeachment motions against President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) on the Legislative Yuan’s agenda for review on Friday, but it is unlikely that either would achieve the two-thirds majority needed to be successful.
KMT and TPP legislators in the Procedure Committee on Tuesday blocked Lai's NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.71 billion) special defense budget for the fourth time, per Liberty Times. The opposition parties have also repeatedly deferred national security amendments regulating lawmakers’ trips to China.
The committee placed the impeachment motions on the agenda for Friday to be reviewed jointly by the plenary committee. Presidential Office Spokesperson Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said the office respects legislative checks on the president as long as they are lawful, constitutional, and follow due process.
With only seven days remaining before year-end, next year’s general budget has yet to enter committee deliberations, which will impact national security, government operations, public welfare, and local development. Kuo urged opposition lawmakers to give the matter careful consideration.
KMT caucus secretary-general Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強) said the earliest date for submitting a schedule for the impeachment proceedings would be Friday. The tentative plan includes inviting Lai to the legislature to provide explanations and hold public hearings.
Another plenary committee session would be convened before the vote to again invite the president to give an explanation. The impeachment vote is tentatively slated for around May 20 next year, pending consensus among opposition parties.
The KMT caucus said Lai committed an unconstitutional dereliction of duty by refusing to promulgate the Fiscal Revenue and Expenditure Allocation Act. They have submitted an impeachment motion against him under the Constitution.
The TPP caucus argued Lai failed to promulgate the same act after it was passed by the legislature, cooperating with the premier by not signing it. They also said this constitutes an unconstitutional dereliction of duty, and they submitted a separate impeachment motion against him.
During Tuesday’s Procedure Committee handling of report items, the TPP caucus proposed reclassifying the impeachment motions as agenda items two and three. The draft agenda also proposed temporarily shelving amendments on cross-strait relations, financial law, and defense procurement proposed by DPP legislators.
The vote resulted in a 9–9 tie between the ruling and opposition camps. Committee chair and KMT Legislator Weng Hsiao-ling (翁曉玲) declared support for the TPP proposal, allowing it to pass.
According to the Additional Articles of the Constitution, impeachment cases against the president or vice president must be proposed by more than half of all legislators and referred to the Plenary Committee for review, per Rti. The motion must then receive a two-thirds majority before being sent to the grand justices of the Constitutional Court for adjudication.
The Legislative Yuan currently has 113 seats, including 52 held by the KMT, 51 by the DPP, 8 by the TPP, and 2 by independents. At least 57 votes are needed to propose an impeachment motion, and 76 to approve it, an outcome that is unlikely given the current composition of the legislature.
Even if the legislature approves an impeachment motion, the timing of Constitutional Court hearings remains uncertain. The court is currently operating with only eight of its 15 justices, despite last Friday’s ruling that the 10-justice threshold for adjudication is unconstitutional.
