Taiwan's New Parliament Inaugurated Monday February 01,2016

 

Taiwan on Monday February 01,2016  inaugurated its new parliament, in which the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party(DPP) holds an absolute majority, putting an end to over 60 years of legislative control by the nationalist Kuomintang party (KMT)

The lawmakers elected in the country`s January 16,2016 elections were sworn-in and elected the DPP`s Su Jia-chyuan as the new speaker, to replace the KMT`s Wang Jin-pyng, who was president of the Legislative Yuan, or the Taiwanese unicameral legislature, for more than 17 years

The KMT`s strength, which has gone down from its previous count of 64 seats to just 35 in the 113-seat legislature, was dealt a harsh blow by voters in the latest elections in which the DPP won 68 seats, while the New Power Party got 5 seats, the People First Party 3 seats and Independent candidates 2 seats

The DPP`s absolute majority will let it carry out its plans of legislative, judicial, economic and social reform, as pledged by president-elect Tsai Ing-wen.

The DPP will give priority to the supervisory legislation of cross-strait agreements with China and has asked the KMT-led government to suspend plans of a goods` trade agreement with China, membership in the Asian Infrastructure and Investment Bank, and entry of Chinese capital into the integrated circuit design industry, said DPP lawmaker Lin Shu-fen.

The new Taiwanese parliament has 43 women and 70 men. Among those 113 members, 27 are Ph.D. holders and 58 have Master`s degrees, and the average age of the lawmakers is 50 years.