Taipei: The Legislative Yuan has successfully passed a new law granting four additional national holidays in Taiwan and extending Labor Day to include public sector employees. This significant legislative change, announced on Friday, marks a shift in holiday regulations and aims to provide a more inclusive holiday schedule for Taiwanese citizens.

According to Focus Taiwan, the new law introduces several key holidays: the day before Lunar New Year's Eve, Confucius' Birthday on September 28 (celebrated as Teachers' Day in Taiwan), Taiwan Retrocession Day and the anniversary of the Battle of Guningtou on October 25, and Constitution Day on December 25. Furthermore, Labor Day, previously limited to private sector employees, will now encompass all sectors under the "Act on the Implementation of Commemorative and Festival Holidays."

The legislation, which supersedes existing holiday regulations administered by the Ministry of the Interior, also enhances the Lunar New Year break by including the day before Lunar New Year's Eve as a national holiday. This change extends the Lunar New Year holiday to at least seven days when including weekends.

Additionally, the law provides tribes with more flexibility, allowing them three days off for traditional Indigenous festivals based on their own rituals, rather than a single day designated by the Council of Indigenous Peoples.

The law will take effect once promulgated by the president, potentially granting the additional holidays of September 28, October 25, and December 25 in the latter half of the year. The legislative process began with the Legislature's Internal Administration Committee passing a draft proposal on March 31, but consensus on which dates should be commemorated proved elusive during cross-party negotiations in April and May.

Ultimately, the main opposition parties, the Kuomintang and the Taiwan People's Party, leveraged their majority to pass the bill with a 57-50 vote, overcoming previous stalemates in the legislative floor.