The student-led Sunflower movement that occupied the legislature, and a president with total control over the government — backed by a legislative majority — with his hands tied and unable to come up with an effective response to the occupation, amounted to a constitutional crisis. It is time for constitutional reform.
Of all the demands of the Sunflower movement, the convening of a public conference on the Constitution was the one that would have cost President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) the least to have met, and would have given him a chance to salvage his legacy. However, both he and Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) chose to reject it out of hand. Finally, it was left to Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) to give his assurances that the demand would be met, using his position to resolve the standoff.
Ma, Jiang and the rest of his administration, are quite happy with the current Constitution. It allows the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) to maintain its majority and hold on to power for the foreseeable future. This is because the unequal value of votes cast in elections increase the apparent support for the pan-blue camp. The first-past-the-post, single-member district voting system consolidates the geographical distribution of pan-blue and pan-green strongholds, while the 5 percent threshold eliminates the New Party and the People First Party.
Also, the legislator-at-large list helps the party control the lawmaking body, so there is little chance of getting a successful vote of no confidence passed, especially given the influence of the KMT caucus whip.
It is as if the system is tailor-made for Ma. It should have been easy for him, a leader elevated to the status of an emperor in a democracy. However, the past five years have been difficult. The student-led occupation put a spotlight on the conflict for dual political legitimacy in the democratic system of presidential and legislative elections. The occupation of the legislative chamber did not damage the status or the dignity of the legislature itself — it was individual legislators who looked bad — but simply concentrated attention on the legislature’s constitutional role of providing checks and balances on the office of the president.
Who was right? The legislators who followed the party line, or the Sunflower movement, which insisted on the establishment of proper oversight? In the end, the leader of the legislature stepped up and brandished the authority invested in him. The conclusion to the drama was not because the premier used his executive authority — it was the legislative speaker who exercised his right to curtail the power of the president.
This would not have happened in the democracy of the past. It was the result of representative democracy being strengthened. It would come as no surprise if some of the student leaders of today become the legislative leaders of tomorrow.
The conflict between the executive and legislative branches of government, which fosters inefficiency, is a result of the fact that a president who doubles as the party chairperson places more emphasis on the executive branch than the legislative branch.
In September last year, Ma allegedly instructed the prosecutor-general to wiretap the opposition party whip and the legislative speaker to exert pressure on the legislative branch, an event which caused a furor.
The nation is at a constitutional crossroads. It can go down the path of reform or continue on its current trajectory. If the KMT advertisements attacking the DPP and the legislative speaker are any indication, it is quite clear where Ma’s preferences lie.
Hsu Yung-ming is an associate professor of political science at Soochow University.
Translated by Paul Cooper
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