Ma: Asking Me to Step Down Earlier Contravenes Normal Constitutional Practice

 Ma: Asking Me to Step Down Earlier Contravenes Normal Constitutional Practice  

Source: All Taipei Newspapers

Feb. 19 2016

President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) stated Thursday that although some people have been proposing that he step down earlier than May 20, the end of his Constitutional term, he had no intention of doing so because there was no Constitutional provision for a President to hand over power before the end of his term.  

 Ma went on to say that as President-elect Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文)did not support his calls for the DPP to form a Cabinet on Feb.1 after the DPP won an absolute majority in Legislative Yuan in the January 16 general elections, “my administration could not slack off or play the role of a ‘caretaker’ as it was not a Constitutional practice. So over the next three months, we should do whatever we have to do, and introduce bills we have planned to introduce because people would still evaluate the government’s performance. Even on the last day in office, we should make sure that the people are satisfied, and end on that note, so we would have the chance to regain power,” Ma said.

 During a KMT legislative-executive seminar held yesterday, Ma stated that the KMT was still the ruling party in the executive branch, while becoming a minority in the Legislative Yuan. After the Constitution was amended in 1997, our political system has become semi-presidentialistic, that is, if the President and the Premier belong to the same party, our political system becomes a Presidential system; If the President and the Premier belong to different parties, it would become a cabinet system.

 This was why Ma extended an invitation to Tsai to discuss the appointment of a new premier on Feb.1 during his phone call to congratulate Tsai on her election victory. However, Tsai refused to discuss the issue, saying there was no article in the Constitution which stipulated doing so.

  “Although there are no specific Constitutional provisions in this respect, it does have the leeway to do so,” Ma opined. Ma went on to say that over the past eight years, he had referred to this changing of tracks in our dual-executive system on seven occasions. In his National Day Message last year, he also called for reconciliation within society, cooperation between the ruling and opposition camps, and peace across the Taiwan Strait. So his proposal to call for the DPP to form a cabinet on Feb.1 was not something that just came up now.    

 As the KMT only won 35 seats in Legislative Yuan, President Ma hoped that the KMT members would not oppose something for the sake of opposing, on the contrary, they should put national interests and the welfare of the people above all.

  [Editor’s note:

According to the ROC Constitution, even if the incumbent President resigns, the Vice President shall succeed him as President for the remainder of his term, and no one else.] 

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