TAIPEI (TVBS News) — Taiwan People's Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je on Friday (Feb. 2) announced plans to file a lawsuit against the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) spokesperson, after denying allegations by the DPP about attempting to sway support for the legislative speaker candidate.
DPP spokesperson Justin Wu, in turn, replied that he welcomed Ko's impending legal action, expressing his willingness for a clear courtroom discussion involving all relevant communication records.
This controversy followed the election of the legislative speaker, which saw Kuomintang (KMT) members Han Kuo-yu and Johnny Chiang securing victory.
Subsequently, the TPP accused certain DPP members of negotiating with Chairman Ko, suggesting a reciprocal endorsement arrangement - supporting Huang Shan-shan for the speakership in return for the TPP backing the DPP's Tsai Chi-chang for deputy speaker.
Nonetheless, Wu asserted that Ko had voluntarily proposed such an arrangement to a DPP senior member in the medical field, endorsing Tsai as deputy speaker and seeking DPP support for Huang as speaker. The DPP, however, did not accept this proposition. Wu said.
Wu further demanded that Ko should explain to the public and his supporters why he decided to abstain from the second round of the speaker election, rather than raising issues after the election and threatening to sue.
The DPP spokesperson insisted on transparency about the events that transpired in the recent speaker election.