The National Assembly has handed its authority to the Legislative Yuan. However, whether this will result in a bet-ter structure and milieu for the Legislature remains to be seen.
The Assembly's power to initiate constitutional amendments is now in the hands of the Legislative Yuan. In the future, Assembly deputies will be chosen on the basis of proportional representation. However, in the Legislature's current milieu, the election of constituency-based legislators is actually equivalent to to a "semi-proportional representation system" because the current electoral system -- where each district produces more than one winner -- gives small parties and candidates with radical platforms a chance to win the election. On the other hand, legislators at large are not as clearly representative of political parties as is the case in Europe. As a result, it is difficult for political parties to implement their policies because nomination by the party does not guarantee election victory. Legislative candidates have to depend on their own prowess in order to break through the layers of competition. However, since amending the constitution is the responsibility of political parties, it should be clarified for public scrutiny. In the past, the Assembly was only a "secondary legion" with limited powers, so it should have been easier for political parties to control. But this did not prevent the many situations that we have witnessed at the Assembly. Now, the Assembly's powers are in the hands of legislators. Not to mention the prospect of disagreement between lawmakers and the "ad-hoc National Assembly" generated by the recently-passed amendments. That political parties no longer have clear responsibilities and boundary lines at the Legislature is reflected in the recent formation of Chen Shui-bian's (
Therefore, creating complementary regulations is an urgent matter. In this regard, the debate over adopting a "single-district, two-votes" system should be given top priority in the agenda, so that major political parties can enforce party discipline, while smaller parties can have space.
Lin Cho-shui is a DPP legislator.
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