A few days ago, prosecutors launched several large-scale simultaneous searches in connection with the alleged vote-buying during the elections of the speaker and vice speaker of the Kaohsiung City Council. Searches targeted members of almost every political party. Because the public wants good governance -- and because good public moral is valuable -- there was a build of momentum to carry out a thorough investigation even if it meant shutting down the city council.
Some commentators are extremely pessimistic. They believe that if a municipality council has come to this, then elected institutions at more local levels are likely to be even more rotten. They claim it would hardly would be surprising to hear that "black gold" rules the countryside. I believe that this really is a window of opportunity that could allow us to rebuild local democracy. It presents us with the opportunity to take a look at real problems in our local democracy and to reflect on what the next step should be. Reconstruction or innovation? Or should we abolish it altogether?
In theory, local democracy was born out of the principle of a vertical division of powers. Apart from the original purpose of preventing the central government from becoming too powerful, it fills the function of thoroughly implementing the principle of the social state caring for people in more direct ways and of maintaining face-to-face democracy with direct political responsibility.
The research of a number of academics points out that since the rise of media politics and the information society, most citizens focus on national politics and policy issues and don't care much for local political matters. This can easily be seen in the fact that voter turnout rates in many countries tend to be lower in local elections than in national. One idea that is beginning to take shape among these academics that local politics is a form of "sub-politics." They believe that while local democracy has placed a greater responsibility on residents to participate, it often produces lower-quality policies.
For a long time, local politics in Taiwan has been seen as a network for national political mobilization. It provides local factions with a firm grounding to pursue their own interests.
We should recognize that in any mature, democratic society, personal responsibility is a prerequisite for participation in public governance. Citizens taking this responsibility are vital to a reconstruction of local democracy. Since city councilors are political representatives authorized through acts of public trust, residents have the right at any time to revoke that trust and remove thheir mandate, showing that the people are the ultimate masters of council and government.
It would be better if political parties and leaders shouldered a more concrete and direct political responsibility. In countries with political parties, parties and political leaders are the intermediaries and integrational organizations between state institutions and civil society. Do political parties and leaders persist in their goals and realize their mission? Or do they indulge in the competition for power and influence peddling? This will influence whether the overall political situation will develop in a positive or negative direction.
I call for the suspected vote-buying in the Kaohsiung council elections to be investigated and clarified in accordance with the principle of the rule of law.
At a deeper level, however, it would be better to use this opportunity to open a debate on the question of how to rebuild local democracy and free local politics from the perception that it is a sub-political system. Maybe this is a watershed for local democracy in Taiwan.
Wu Eing-ming is professor in and director of the department of political economics at National Sun Yat-sen University.
Translated by Perry Svensson
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