Taipei [Taiwan], May 22: Thousands of people on Tuesday gathered outside the main building of Taiwan's parliament to voice their worries about what they see as a dysfunctional legislature and the erosion of democracy by China-friendly parties.
Taiwan's ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lost its majority in parliament in January elections and has faced major challenges in the current session, which started in February.
On Friday, ruling and opposition lawmakers engaged in brawls over several controversial bills, including the expansion of the legislature's investigative powers. Several injured lawmakers required hospital treatment. The fear is that the power of the legislature is being expanded without the appropriate dialogue and procedures.
The main reason behind the chaos is that the opposition parties - including the Chinese Nationalist Party, or Kuomintang (KMT), and the Taiwan People's Party (TPP) - voted last month in committee, where bills are usually reviewed and discussed, to take their versions of the bills directly to a floor vote without clause-by-clause deliberation, and left out bills proposed by the independence-leaning DPP. (DPA)
Source: Qatar Tribune
