Taiwan's Legislature Passes Drone Bill Amidst Voting Blunders by Opposition Lawmakers

Taiwan's Legislative Yuan passed the Kuomintang's (KMT) version of the drone bill on August 27, but the legislative process was marred by significant voting errors among opposition lawmakers. Chang Yu-meng, director of the Taiwan Youth Democratic Association, criticized the KMT lawmakers for a large-scale voting blunder, which was only stopped after KMT caucus whip Fu Kun-chi intervened.

Chang stated on Facebook that during the clause-by-clause vote on the "Unmanned Vehicles Act," many KMT legislators mistakenly voted in favor of amendments proposed by the Taiwan People's Party (TPP) due to a perceived "blue-white alliance" strategy. This alliance involved cooperating on some clauses while splitting votes on others. Initially, both KMT and TPP voted in favor of the bill's title, securing 60 affirmative votes.

However, the situation devolved during the vote on the second clause. According to Chang, KMT legislators habitually followed the TPP's lead, casting votes without fully understanding the implications. When the TPP introduced a revised motion, many KMT members instinctively voted yes. Fu Kun-chi reportedly rushed to confirm with parliamentary staff, realizing the KMT caucus was supposed to oppose the motion. In the final moments before the vote concluded, he urgently instructed his party members to "pull their cards", referring to the voting cards used by legislators.

While some legislators, like Chen Yu-chen, Huang Jen, and Niu Hsu-ting, reacted quickly and changed their votes to abstentions within seconds, a group of 23 KMT lawmakers, including Hsieh Lung-chieh, Cheng Tien-tsai, Wu Tsung-hsien, Yen Kuan-heng, Lee Yen-hsiu, Lai Shih-pao, Luo Ming-tsai, Hsu Chiao-hsin, Hsu Hsin-ying, Luo Chih-chiang, and Ma Wen-chun, were too slow to withdraw their cards and inadvertently voted in favor of the TPP's motion.

Chang argued that the KMT should be grateful to the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), whose members unanimously voted against the TPP's motion. This opposition ultimately led to the motion's defeat with 50 votes against, preventing the KMT's mistaken votes from passing it. Chang concluded by criticizing the KMT and TPP legislators as mere "voting troops" who do not review legislation before casting their ballots, emphasizing the negative consequences of blind cross-party cooperation.