By Chris Wang / Staff reporter
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus yesterday said it would end its month-long boycott of Premier Jiang Yi-huah’s (江宜樺) policy report to the Legislative Yuan today.
“Caucus members have reached a consensus that we will let Jiang make his report tomorrow,” DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) said after the caucus met in the afternoon, the third meeting it has held over the issue.
The public has focused on whether the DPP would continue its boycott and what its next step would be to hold President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Jiang accountable for “infringing the Constitution and inciting political instability” after a no-confidence motion against the Cabinet failed to pass on Tuesday.
The caucus is scheduled to hold a press conference at 10am to discuss the conduct of Ma, Jiang and other officials as well as its “a new front” against the Ma administration.
Ker did not specify what the party’s next step would be, but most observers assumed the DPP could initiate either a recall campaign or impeachment — or both — against the president.
It was unlikely the DPP could maintain its boycott of Jiang’s speech after the no-confidence motion failed, Ker said, but “the public’s power would make Jiang step down eventually.”
Saying that the premier was involved in Ma’s political conspiracy to remove Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) from his post, DPP lawmakers have blocked Jiang’s report to six plenary sessions of the legislature, demanding Jiang apologize to the people and to the legislature.
However, DPP lawmakers had been divided over whether to maintain the boycott today and had not been able to reach an agreement in previous caucus meetings.
DPP headquarters said on Wednesday that it would respect whatever decision the caucus made.