Two members of Taiwan’s largest opposition party have boycotted a constitutional reform committee meeting amid a dispute over who should be chair. Lawmakers Lee Guei-min and Cheng Li-wun, both from the opposition KMT, left the meeting on Thursday after the other committee conveners elected a chair in their absence.
The Constitutional Amendment Committee has five conveners, including three from the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), and two from the opposition KMT. On Thursday, the committee began holding its second full meeting to examine a total of 75 amendment proposals.
Before the KMT conveners had arrived, the three conveners from the ruling DPP proposed that DPP lawmaker Chou Chun-mi should be committee chair. The motion received no objection, so Chou assumed the position of chair and began the meeting.
The opposition KMT lawmakers, who arrived late to the meeting, say that the ruling DPP is imposing a “tyranny of the majority”.
The ruling DPP says that the position of committee chair will rotate so that each of the five conveners will assume the role twice. It says the meeting had reached quorum and there was no breach of protocol.
The DPP lawmakers are calling on the KMT to end their boycott so that the committee can examine proposals with cross-party support. Those include a proposal to lower the voting age from 20 to 18.