Opening day saw Su Jia-chyuan, legislator at large and former minister of the interior, elected president of the Legislative Yuan. He is the first DPP lawmaker to hold the post, bringing the curtain down on Wang Jin-pyng of the Kuomintang’s record 17 years in the job. Su’s running mate Tsai Chi-chang was elected vice president.
The DPP took 68 out of 113 seats on offer in the Jan. 16 Legislative elections, relegating the KMT to main opposition party status with 35.
After his election, Su said he would immediately resign from the DPP’s Central Standing Committee and cease all party-related activities. This is in accordance with ROC President-elect Tsai Ing-wen’s pledge to engineer legislative reform and avoid possible conflict of interest in the speaker’s role.
“We are poised to take Taiwan’s parliamentary politics to the next level,” Su said. “Going forward, the Legislature will redouble efforts to implement reform in line with public expectations. Our priority is drafting laws advancing the interests of the nation and its people.”
The new Legislative Yuan features a record high number of female lawmakers. A total of 43 female legislators were sworn in, up from 38 in the eighth edition.
This equates to 38 percent—the highest in Asia and topping such countries as the Philippines at 27.1, South Korea 16.3 and Japan 11.6, according to the latest statistics released by Switzerland-based Inter-Parliamentary Union.
In tandem with greater gender equality, the Legislature is seeing more young faces. Statistics by the Central Election Commission revealed that the number of newly elected lawmakers aged 30-44 rose to 35 from 24, while those aged 60 or above fell to 18 from 25.
The youngest member of the eighth and ninth editions of the Legislative Yuan is the DPP’s Lu Sun-ling, 28, who defeated KMT incumbent Wu Yu-sheng in New Taipei City.
This trend is also reflected by the young-leaning New Power Party, which holds five seats and surpassed the People First Party as the third largest party in the Legislature. The PFP, generally perceived to be pro-KMT, has three seats, with the remainder controlled by independents. (YHC-JSM)
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