Taiwan’s legislature is discussing more controversial amendments that could change the way the country's top court works. Amendments have already passed regarding the country’s recall act. It’s yet another display of the difficulty Taiwan's legislature is experiencing with no single party having a majority of seats.
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00:00We begin here in Taipei where dramatic scenes are unfolding inside and outside the legislature.
00:05Lawmakers from the main opposition parties led by the Kuomintang are still trying to
00:10pass controversial amendments that could affect the balance of partisan power in the country.
00:15In the morning, we saw lots of pushing and shoving with ruling Democratic Progressive
00:19Party lawmakers trying to physically block the opposition from entering the chamber.
00:24Despite those efforts, the opposition was ultimately able to enter and pass a set of
00:28amendments making it harder to recall sitting politicians and another changing the way Taiwan's
00:33top court chooses members. Those lawmakers are now discussing how money is allocated to local
00:39governments. Meanwhile, protesters and police have been facing off outside the building.
00:44We'll be live with the latest on what is turning out to be a tense protest in a moment.
00:48But first, let's go to Tiffany Wong who is inside the legislature.
00:52Tiffany, this is all over the opposition's attempt to pass amendments to three major laws.
00:57Can you tell us more about these laws?
01:03Hi Yvonne. Well, some of the amendments discussed here today could change the way
01:07that Taiwan's top court works. Already, we saw one set of amendments passed that
01:12was supported by one of the smaller opposition parties, the Taiwan People's Party.
01:18Now, when justices leave the court, they will have to be replaced within two months.
01:25There's also another set of amendments regarding the recall act that also passed earlier.
01:30Now, when people are trying to sign recall petitions, they're going to have to provide
01:33ID verification. Now, the meeting today has officially been extended until midnight.
01:41And so, lawmakers are still expected to discuss the third and final set of amendments
01:45on the agenda today. And that would change the way that Taiwan's government revenue is allocated.
01:51The opposition, Kuomintang, is calling for more funding to be allocated to local governments
01:57where they hold more seats rather than the central government, which is led by
02:01the President Lai Ching-Teh of the Democratic Progressive Party.
02:06Tiffany, this is not the first time we've seen clashes like this in the legislature this year.
02:11Is it always split between the KMT and DPP?
02:15That's right. It's really not about the nitty-gritty of these amendments,
02:18but it's about the growing partisan divides in Taiwan, which we've seen all year,
02:23ever since the general elections. This is the first time in Taiwan's history where we've had
02:28a president presiding over a divided legislature. And that's played out in physical clashes
02:35every few months here in the legislature. And right now, there's no single
02:41party with a majority in the legislature. And so we've often seen the main opposition,
02:46Kuomintang, join forces with the smaller opposition, Taiwan People's Party. But as
02:51we've seen today, the Taiwan People's Party's support is not guaranteed. And so we are expecting
02:57to see many more clashes in the legislature in the coming days, even regarding more amendments
03:04to that recall act.