A legislative committee meeting intended to be a cross-party discussion on amendments to the Election and Recall Act turned into a KMT-only vote after party legislators blocked DPP lawmakers from entering the conference room. The amendments passed preliminary review unanimously in the meeting lasting a matter of minutes.
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00:00A controversial amendment to raise the threshold for a recall vote is moving forward in the
00:04legislative process after the opposition, KMT legislators did everything that they possibly
00:10could to make sure that it passed out of committee review.
00:13The Internal Affairs Committee was set to review the amendments for a third time, but
00:18the ruling Democratic Progressive Party legislators were blocked by masses of KMT legislators
00:23occupying the hall and even putting chairs and desks in front of the door to the meeting
00:28room and even covering it with plastic wrap.
00:31Now the KMT then called together committee review without any DPP members present.
00:39The meeting was adjourned in just three minutes with only KMT members and their allies present
00:44to vote, which means that it can now move on to discussions on the floor.
00:48Now immediately following the vote, we saw several DPP lawmakers voicing their concerns
00:53about the legislative process in this meeting on social media.
00:57One legislator comparing the KMT's actions to that of the Chinese Communist Party and
01:02another saying that it brought up feelings of a martial law period.
01:05They say that KMT officials are so set on raising that recall threshold because they're
01:10afraid of being recalled themselves.
01:13Now the KMT quickly held their own press conference with their caucus whip accusing the DPP of
01:18using similar tactics in the past.
01:21Now the bill will go on to cross-party negotiations before any final vote is held.
01:27And there's another controversial amendment to add a signature verification requirement
01:31to recall petitions.
01:33That's going to have its third and final reading on the floor on Friday, meaning we can expect
01:38more clashes in the legislature in the coming days.
01:41Yixin Chen and Tiffany Wong in Taipei for Taiwan Plus.