TAIPEI (Reuters) – Fighting erupted in and out of Taiwan’s parliament again on Friday over disputed nomination by President Tsai Ing-wen of a senior aide to a government watchdog post, which the main opposition party has qualified as cronyism.
The Kuomintang (KMT) has mounted a rowdy campaign against Chen Chu’s nomination to head Control Yuan, a government independent watchdog.
The KMT, badly beaten by Tsai and his Progressive Democratic Party (DPP) in the January elections, this week occupied the main chamber of parliament for three days, trying to prevent Chen from taking office.
Several KMT lawmakers knocked down voting tables inside the chamber to prevent DPP lawmakers from casting votes on the nomination. KMT has accused the DPP of cheating part of this week’s nomination vote.
Friday’s vote went ahead despite shouts and protests from KMT lawmakers, who were holding placards reading “invalid vote.”
About 100 KMT supporters outside parliament fought with the police and some tried to break down the barricades, asking the DPP to withdraw the nomination.
“I reject cronyism. Withdraw the nomination, “KMT President Johnny Chiang told his supporters in the back of a truck in front of parliament.
Taiwan is a bustling, sometimes rebellious democracy. Punching and loud protests are not uncommon in parliament.
The DPP has a large parliamentary majority, and was enraged by the attacks on Chen, who was jailed in 1980 for helping to lead pro-democracy protests against the KMT government when Taiwan was a dictatorship.
The KMT, under its new youth leader, Chiang, has been trying to reinvent itself since its electoral defeat, failing to avoid the DPP’s accusations that they were too pro-China.
The party traditionally favors closer ties with China, which claims Taiwan as its own territory.
The KMT faces a new challenge next month in a partial mayoral election in the vast southern metropolis of Kaohsiung, traditionally a DPP stronghold.
The former KMT mayor of Kaohsiung was removed from office in a revocation vote in June.
Reports from Yimou Lee and Ann Wang; Additional reports from Ben Blanchard. Edition by Gerry Doyle
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