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Chen can redraw the political map

Prior to the election, President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) threw out the idea of creating a post-election "cross-party alliance for national stabilization" (國家安定聯盟) in order to create a stable government. This move has of course become another issue that the opposition and ruling parties can attack or defend.

The KMT took the opportunity to demand that Chen reveal whether he plans on keeping Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) on as premier. Chen used the opposition's criticism to bring home the point that the president has the right to form the Cabinet. The concept of a cross-party alliance, which looks generous at first, seems to circle around the issue of who has the right to form the Cabinet.

It is not difficult to see Chen's alliance as another DPP election strategy attempting to split the "pan-blue" camp. That said, this author is of the opinion that we should adopt a more positive attitude and review the meaning of Chen's cross-party alliance proposal.

First, proposing the cross-party alliance proves that Chen already has understood that a smoothly functioning government is dependent on the support of a legislative majority. Even though Chen used KMT Chairman Lien Chan's (連戰) criticism to bring out his own evidence that the president has the right to form the Cabinet, his proposal for the forming of a cross-party alliance also clearly shows that the president acknowledges that a government without the support of a legislative majority is not feasible.

The question of who has the right to form the Cabinet is therefore no longer a question of which party is the largest, but rather a question of who controls a majority of seats. This, in fact, is the solution that coincides with the spirit of majority rule. Chen's willingness to link the strength of the legislature to the right to form the Cabinet therefore warrants approval.

Second, since none of the three major parties has won a majority, the DPP must use all possible means to co-opt other parties and legislators to create a majority DPP-based political alliance for the continued functioning of political power. The KMT-led opposition will naturally also do its best to unite to create a majority "pan-blue" alliance. The post-election political situation will become a fight between the "pan-green" and "pan-blue" alliances where the side that successfully manages to create a majority alliance will be the side that controls the real power of the government.

Because the DPP's electoral situation is relatively stable and because they have the advantage of being in power, the chances of successfully establishing a DPP-based majority alliance is higher than are the chances of the opposition KMT and People First Party uniting for the presidential election two years from now.

If the DPP is successful in creating a majority alliance, then the president will become the true seat of the nation's power. If not, then the "pan-green" camp will control almost half the seats and the "pan-blue" alliance will control a majority. Aside from having to compromise on the right to form the Cabinet, there are other constitutional powers that the president will be pressured to give up.

Constitutional powers will function much as they did in France during the first cohabitation of left and right, when then-president Francois Mitterand and Prime Minister Jacques Chirac were involved in a power struggle and neither gave an inch. Under the Constitution, the president and the premier have their individual powers, as if they were in competition with each other, but this, on the contrary, is beneficial for the establishment of constitutional order.

Finally, since it doesn't matter which alliance holds the legislative majority, the president will not be merely a figurehead and will continue to wield a great deal of power. If the president wins, he could become the seat of national power, and if he loses, he could stand above political fighting and play the role of a supra-party national mediator, accumulating even more capital for the next presidential election. It therefore seems as though Chen doesn't have to use the cross-party alliance to conceal his acknowledgement of the fact that the majority alliance has the right to form the Cabinet. He should instead magnanimously announce that the majority alliance will form the Cabinet. If this happens, a new page will be written in the annals of constitutional operations in Taiwan.

It was only 29 years after the establishment of the Fifth Republic in France that the first instance of cohabitation between left and right occurred. It also created constitutional problems in France, but thanks to the nation's strong political culture and the tradition of its political parties in combination with Mitterand's political art of compromise and tolerance, what was first seen as a flawed constitution turned out to work smoothly. Looking at the French experience, even though our nation's constitutional experience seems hurried and insufficient, this is another opportunity for Taiwan.

This author looks forward to Chen being capable of further compromise and to more tolerance being used to mend the rift between the opposition and ruling parties. Chen can use this to demonstrate the attitude of a generous and broadminded politician and create a new constitutional situation in Taiwan.

Chiang Ching-sung is a PhD candidate at the Chinese Cultural University.
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