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Electorate reallocation is the next big hurdle

Now that the National Assembly has ratified the constitutional amendments, legislators and political parties have been discussing the redrawing of the 73 single-member electoral districts.

There are many problems here, from who should do the redrawing to how they should be redrawn and what repercussions this may have for parties, candidates and local factions.

However, it seems that many have ignored two important questions: How often should seats be reallocated between cities and counties, and how often should boundaries be redrawn?

In 1929, the US Congress froze the total number of seats in the House of Representatives at 435. After that, according to the results of the national census held once each decade, Congress had to reallocate seats between states in a way that reflected population change while maintaining the principle of political equality that says every vote has equal value.

In practice, the reallocation of seats for the House of Representatives is approved by Congress through passing a law based on the census results. However, each state is given at least one seat (the results of the latest reallocation in 2000 gave Alaska, Delaware, Montana, North and South Dakota, Vermont and Wyoming a single seat each).

Under the federal system, after Congress determines the number of Representative seats for each state, the redrawing of electoral districts within each state is determined by individual states -- in some states by the state legislature, while in other states the governor is more influential. And the influence of the state over its electoral structure can become more critical over time as populations change. In the early 20th century, for example, California had only 20 representatives; now, the number is 53.

Taiwan's 73 electoral districts will be allocated in terms of counties and cities, with each county and city receiving at least one seat. In the past, when legislative elections were held every three years, the Central Election Commission would reallocate the number of seats for each county and city. But because these were multi-member districts, changes to the number of seats in each county and city did not have a great impact because redrawing boundaries was unnecessary.

But should we continue to reallocate the number of seats and redraw electoral districts every four years after the implementation of the single-member district system? That would be a nightmare for both political parties and candidates.

Based on current population figures, Taipei County will be divided into 12 electoral districts for the next legislative election. However, the population of Taipei County is likely to increase as a result of urbanization. The number of seats may therefore increase to 13 in the legislative elections following that, and then 14 in the next, and so on.

Will it become necessary to redraw the electoral districts once every four years in Taipei County? And even if the number of seats remains the same, population imbalances resulting from demographic change could still mean that the districts within a county or city will have to be redrawn. Should this also take place every four years?

Once the single-member electorate is adopted, at what interval should seats be reallocated and districts redrawn?

Maybe we should learn from other countries and undertake these adjustments after a specific number of elections -- perhaps every three elections, that is, every 12 years -- or when the population in an election district rises above or falls below the average by a certain proportion. In future, these principles must be clearly defined in the law, and that is an issue that the Cabinet and the legislature should not ignore.

Wang Yeh-lih is a professor of political science at Tunghai University. Translated by Daniel Cheng
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