Editorial: Moving ahead with political reforms

The members of the National Assembly have now been elected. Although the 23.36 percent voter turnout last Saturday was a historic low, the vote must be seen as a decisive victory for the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), both of whom support constitutional reforms. Neither the direction nor the momentum of political reforms will be diminished. This indicates that while democracy in this country may still have its ups and downs, its foundations are solid.

The assembly has the task of ratifying the legislature's constitutional amendments. Because 83 percent of the vote was in favor of the DPP and the KMT, regardless of whether a simple, two-thirds or three-quarters majority is used as the standard for the assembly vote, the amendment bill will be ratified.

Long-term political goals, such as halving the number of legislative seats, adopting a "single-member district, two-vote" legislative electoral system, writing referendums into the Constitution, eliminating the National Assembly and others, will now be realized. As a result, this nation will have a better quality of legislator and elections will become better ordered affairs. Demagogues will gradually lose ground and the quality of the country's democracy will improve. With these elections, Taiwan's democracy has passed another milestone.

This election has also changed the political environment. With the introduction of a "single-member district, two-vote" system, the existence of small parties such as the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) and the People First Party (PFP) are now under threat. So even though both signed agreements to support legislative reform last August, they now oppose it. This inconsistency is behind their poor performance in Saturday's elections.

Yesterday, the PFP legislative caucus slammed the door shut on cooperation with the government. This is no more than the party's death throes. The incessant changes in the PFP's political stance simply goes to show it turns whichever way the wind blows.

Now the legislature must pass a statute governing the assembly's exercise of power (國大職權行使法). One of the most important rules by which the assembly will operate, namely whether a half-plus-one or a two-thirds majority will be used, is still under debate. The fact that the election was held prior to a final decision violated legal procedure, and was negligence on the part of the legislature.

Nevertheless, the elections showed that regardless of which majority is used, the constitutional amendments will go ahead. In careful consideration of the legitimacy and appropriateness of future proposed constitutional amendments, a two-thirds majority is probably the more reasonable choice.

It is a matter of regret that the legitimacy of the amendments, regardless of what voting rules are adopted, will always be less than absolute because of the tiny turnout for the election. But this does not affect the legality of the elections, for not voting is also an expression of opinion and must be respected. The only reason that the PFP has called for a constitutional interpretation on this issue is because it performed so badly. Voters will have little sympathy for such thoughtless behavior.

This will be the final session of the National Assembly before it vanishes into history. Its agenda is very simple. It is required to ratify a bill to amend the Constitution, but cannot alter the substance of the amendments. How the members will vote has been largely decided by the parties and the voters. Therefore, this meeting of the assembly should be simple and efficient. The instigation of new political conflicts must be avoided. If things are kept simple, the whole assembly could be concluded within the week.