DPP TO REDRESS FLAWED REFERENDUM BILL AFTER PRESIDENT'S PROMULGATION
2003-12-27 18:56:59
Taipei, Dec. 27 (CNA) President Chen Shui-bian will promulgate the referendum bill next week, and the legislative caucus will immediately take a three-pronged approach to redress what the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) calls a flawed bill, a DPP legislator said Saturday.
Chen Chi-mei, a DPP whip in the Legislative Yuan, made the remarks after the opposition-controlled legislature rejected the Executive Yuan's request to reconsider 12 of the 54 articles of the newly passed referendum law Dec. 19.
Chen said the DPP will continue to pursue the path of reform, noting that the party is planning to take the flawed parts to the Council of Grand Justices to request an interpretation.
At the same time, the DPP will also submit a draft amendment to the referendum bill next week, Chen said, during which the Legislative Yuan's right to initiate a referendum as well as the referendum bill review committee will be scrapped.
The DPP will also ask Legislative Yuan President Wang Jin-pyng to convene a Constitution revision committee to include the people's rights to solicit signatures to amend the Constitution into the Constitution and pass it in this legislative session.
The allegedly unconstitutional parts of the referendum bill cited by Chen include the articles giving the Legislative Yuan the power to initiate referendums while denying the Executive Yuan a similar right, and providing for the formulation of a referendum review committee which could duplicate the function of the Central Election Commission.
The referendum bill is the brainchild of the DPP, but the opposition at the legislature managed to outmaneuver the ruling party by padding it with their own ideas and steamrolling it through the legislature on Nov. 27.
(By Lilian Wu)
ENDITEM/mw
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