After the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) suffered its biggest-ever defeat in the nine-in-one elections on Nov. 29, the rosy prospects for the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in the legislative elections at the end of next year and the 2016 presidential election has prompted the KMT to deliberate on possible constitutional reforms, an opportunity which all parties concerned should not let go of, for their own sakes.
Given the extremely high threshold for constitutional revisions — approval from three-quarters of lawmakers and at least 50 percent of the whole electorate — set under the 2005 constitutional amendment, it is nearly impossible to pass any amendments to the Constitution without cooperation from the KMT and DPP, as well as a high degree of public support.
On Friday as he declared his candidacy for the KMT chairmanship, New Taipei City Mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫) proposed the formulation of amendments to the Constitution for a referendum to be held on the same day as the presidential election, while on Thursday, some KMT lawmakers initiated a proposal to establish a constitutional amendment committee in the legislature. There emerged signs that the KMT, which has opposed changes to the Constitution, might be willing to allow reform.
The shift in the KMT’s position to favor a parliamentary form of government over the current quasi-presidential system was said to be a pre-emptive measure against a DPP victory in 2016.
There was speculation that the KMT’s willingness to review the current legislative electoral system is because it does not expect to do well in next year’s vote.
Nonetheless, Chu’s statement on constitutional amendments was the first from a leading politician explicitly speaking in favor of a parliamentary system of government to resolve the constitutional-political impasse, in which all executive power is vested in one person: the president, while the president is not held accountable in a manner commensurate with the position’s authority.
It remains to be seen how Chu would lead the KMT to follow through on reform.
As expected, the DPP dealt with the issue of constitutional reform cautiously.
According to a DPP statement, although the party said it is open to discussion over whether the constitutional structure should be altered to a form of parliamentary government, it is of the opinion that the issue is not as urgent as reforms to the legislative electoral system.
The DPP made a valid point that precedence must be given to legislative electoral system. Adoption of a parliamentary system when legislative seats are not distributed based on proportional representation and where lawmakers are more concerned with pork-barrel issues than public welfare would be a disaster for the nation.
The main school of thought among academics is that a parliamentary system would be more appropriate for the nation’s current situation. Surveys conducted by think tanks and the DPP have found that nearly 70 percent of the pubic favors changing the system to a parliamentary one.
However, a parliamentary system is not favored by the DPP due to its belief that such a system would inherently suit the KMT to the extent that the DPP considers it unlikely that the party would ever win a majority in the legislature.
After Chu presented the timetable to have a parliamentary system of government implemented in 2020 if a 2016 referendum succeeds, DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) said that Chu is paving his way to be premier in 2020.
That was a fair guess, but the DPP still failed to express clearly its stance on reform.
With the presidential election just 15 months away, the opportunity to push for constitutional reforms could easily slip away if parties focus on political calculations rather than forging a public consensus on issues of great complexity.
This editorial has been corrected since first published.
Could Asia be on the verge of a new wave of nuclear proliferation? A look back at the early history of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which recently celebrated its 75th anniversary, illuminates some reasons for concern in the Indo-Pacific today. US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin recently described NATO as “the most powerful and successful alliance in history,” but the organization’s early years were not without challenges. At its inception, the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty marked a sea change in American strategic thinking. The United States had been intent on withdrawing from Europe in the years following
My wife and I spent the week in the interior of Taiwan where Shuyuan spent her childhood. In that town there is a street that functions as an open farmer’s market. Walk along that street, as Shuyuan did yesterday, and it is next to impossible to come home empty-handed. Some mangoes that looked vaguely like others we had seen around here ended up on our table. Shuyuan told how she had bought them from a little old farmer woman from the countryside who said the mangoes were from a very old tree she had on her property. The big surprise
The issue of China’s overcapacity has drawn greater global attention recently, with US Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen urging Beijing to address its excess production in key industries during her visit to China last week. Meanwhile in Brussels, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen last week said that Europe must have a tough talk with China on its perceived overcapacity and unfair trade practices. The remarks by Yellen and Von der Leyen come as China’s economy is undergoing a painful transition. Beijing is trying to steer the world’s second-largest economy out of a COVID-19 slump, the property crisis and
As former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) wrapped up his visit to the People’s Republic of China, he received his share of attention. Certainly, the trip must be seen within the full context of Ma’s life, that is, his eight-year presidency, the Sunflower movement and his failed Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement, as well as his eight years as Taipei mayor with its posturing, accusations of money laundering, and ups and downs. Through all that, basic questions stand out: “What drives Ma? What is his end game?” Having observed and commented on Ma for decades, it is all ironically reminiscent of former US president Harry