The constitutional amendment bill has been passed by the Legislative Yuan's Constitutional Amendment Committee. We feel relief from a heavy burden to see the fruit of such long-awaited reforms, and we praise the joint effort made by the ruling and opposition parties to move ahead with reforms.
The most controversial issue of the legislative reform package is halving the number of seats in the legislature. Some legislators and some academics supported the Action Alliance for the Reform of the Legislature's proposal that such major downsizing was unnecessary. But the bill's passage under public pressure could be a result of public disappointment over legislators' poor performance and their lack of integrity.
On the one hand, we realize that before the year-end legislative elections each political party must be able to point to progress with reforms in order to satisfy the public. On the other hand, we must point out that the current constitutional amendments are not sufficient to guarantee an equal and reasonable standard in the future electoral system. As for the participation of minority groups in politics, appropriate auxiliary measures are urgently needed, so that we don't end up in a situation of fixing one thing but damaging another -- and creating new problems that were not been anticipated by reformers.
Because of these concerns, the alliance urges each party to consider the three following issues before making any rash decisions out of the political necessity of displaying superficial achievements.
First, regarding the two-vote system, we should adopt either Germany's compensatory two-vote system or Japan's mixed member system. Of the two, the alliance believes Germany's system can better ensure political participation of disadvantaged groups. We urge the adoption of such a system when amending the Election and Recall Law (
Second, the alliance encourages gender equality when considering the regulation that at least half of each party's legislator-at-large seats should be reserved for women. But after cutting the size of the legislature in half and leaving only 34 legislator-at-large seats, it will be difficult to achieve gender equality or encourage women to participate in politics. The alliance therefore proposes that political parties increase nominations in single-member constituencies as a way to achieve a more reasonable balance.
Third, although legislative downsizing and adopting a "single-member district, two-vote system" may produce higher-quality legislative candidates, it will also generate fierce electoral competition. If we don't introduce a system of public funding for elections, campaign costs will soar. The alliance therefore emphasizes incorporating a clause providing for public campaign funding into the Election and Recall Law. By doing so, we can prevent election scandals.
Though the first step in reform has been taken, we must continuously seek to improve the system. That includes adopting our proposal to equalize the number of regional and at-large legislative seats. Although this proposal was not adopted in the current reforms, it can and should be introduced in the future.
The alliance, true to its progressive spirit, will continue to be a voice for minority groups and ensure that the Legislative Yuan reflects democratic public opinion and strives for consensus. We also hope the public will monitor the legislative bodies -- especially the city and county councils -- to improve the quality of political debate. In this way, the nation's democratic system can become a model for Chinese society and democracies everywhere.
Ku Chung-hwa is a sociology professor at National Chengchi University and a convenor of the Action Alliance for the Reform of the Legislature.
tranSLATED BY LIN YA-TI
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