NPP refuses to budge on axing state branches

By Wu Su-wei / Staff reporter





The New Power Party (NPP) on Saturday said that it would maintain its stance that the Examination Yuan and the Control Yuan be abolished.

As Examination Yuan and Control Yuan members’ terms are expiring in July and August respectively, the Presidential Office has sent letters to political parties asking them to recommend replacement candidates.

The NPP said on Facebook that it would not recommend any candidates before the window closes on Tuesday, as it is determined to push for legislation to have the two branches abolished.

The administering of civil servant qualification exams is relegated to the Examination Yuan, rendering the Executive Yuan unable to set testing criteria based on its needs, while the power to investigate and impeach civil servants is given to the Control Yuan, which weakens scrutiny by publicly elected lawmakers, the party said.

As an example of the Control Yuan’s “negligence and ineptitude,” the NPP cited its decision to not impeach former minister of justice Chiu Tai-san (邱太三), who went to court for allegedly pressuring then-Taoyuan District Prosecutors’ Office chief prosecutor Peng Kun-yeh (彭坤業) regarding a tax evasion case implicating the superintendent of Landseed International Hospital.

A complementary resolution in an amendment to the Organic Act of the Examination Yuan (考試院組織法) last year allowed ministers to opt out of Examination Yuan meetings, which in effect demoted the agency from a branch of the government to a Cabinet-level agency, the party said.

Many of the NPP’s supporters have encouraged it to recommend Examination Yuan and Executive Yuan candidates, so that it could embed like-minded people in them, but the party believes that abolishing the two through a constitutional amendment is the best path for the nation, it said.

The Democratic Progressive Party, which had expressed support for the proposed constitutional amendment, should stand its ground and push through the major reform of the nation’s political system, the NPP said.