Taiwan speaker fights to keep job after scandal

TAIPEI: Taiwan’s parliamentary speaker scored a victory in the fight to keep his job on Friday after a court ruled against his party’s decision to expel him over claims of influence-peddling.
The Taipei district court granted Wang Jin-pyng’s request for a provisional injunction against the Kuomintang (KMT) party, allowing him to retain his party membership and therefore continue as speaker.
“It would have caused Wang significant and irreparable harm if the provisional injunction were not granted,” the court said.
A lawyer for the KMT said the party would appeal.
Wang, 72, was a KMT heavyweight known for his grass-roots influence. His removal has sparked fears of a split within the party in a deepening political scandal that has already seen two top government officials resign.
President Ma Ying-jeou, also chairman of the KMT, had said Wang was “unfit” to head the legislature after he was accused of influencing prosecutors not to appeal in a lawmaker’s court case. Ma described the incident as “the most shameful day” in Taiwan’s democracy.
However, the president’s popularity plunged to an all-time low of 11 percent amid the controversy, according to a recent survey released by the TVBS cable news channel, while 55 percent disapproved of the KMT’s move and just 17 percent approved. Ma’s spokesman Lo Chih-chiang resigned on Thursday due to criticism over the case. Justice minister Tseng Yung-fu stepped down last week after he was implicated in the same influence-peddling scandal.