Lawmakers brawl in parliament, again

TAIPEI (Reuters) - Scores of Taiwan legislators sprayed water, threw stacks of paper and exchanged punches in parliament Tuesday due to disagreements over a bill, again delaying passage of the long-overdue 2007 annual budget.

Lawmakers from the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the main opposition Nationalist Party, or the Kuomintang (KMT), climbed onto the parliament speaker's podium, wrestled and pulled at each other's clothes.

At least one legislator fell from the table during the scuffle, which broke out over a proposal by the KMT to adjust the make-up of the Central Election Commission.

DPP legislators complained that the KMT had introduced its election commission plan to derail passage of the annual budget.

Scuffles often break out over bills in the self-ruled island's sharply divided parliament, where opposition parties hold a slim majority.

Earlier this year, dozens of legislators threw shoes and pulled ties over a similar bill, and in the past they have also hurled lunchboxes and microphones at each other.