When New Taipei City Mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫) announced his bid for the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairmanship, he also called for a referendum on a constitutional amendment to replace the semi-presidential system of government with a parliamentary one, as well as a review of the single-member district, two-vote system for legislators.
Prior to that, 37 legislators from across party lines had signed a motion calling for a constitutional amendment committee and a switch to a parliamentary system, to better reflect public opinion and resolve constitutional difficulties posed by the current system — in which a powerful president cannot be held accountable. Another window of opportunity for constitutional change seems to have opened.
The current electoral systems were a product of cooperation between the KMT and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) when the fourth constitutional amendment passed in 1997 and the seventh amendment in 2005. Now, both parties are calling for an amendment that would change the system of government to a parliamentary one, which seems to imply a fairly advanced common understanding.
However, the ruling and opposition parties must first offer the public a clear and unequivocal explanation of some issues.
First, the core principle of a parliamentary system is that power resides in parliament and the head of state is a figurehead. This is true of most countries that have adopted such a system. However, that means Taiwan would have to abolish direct presidential elections, because voters would find it difficult to accept that a directly elected president would be only a figurehead. Politicians who support the parliamentary system have a responsibility to tell the public that direct presidential elections must be abolished, and must win the public’s support for such a stand.
Second, a parliamentary system focuses on power integration rather than a separation of powers. Most Cabinet members in countries with such a system are also members of parliament of the majority party or the majority coalition of parties. Given the current size of Taiwan’s Cabinet — based on the number of members in former premier Jiang Yi-huah’s (江宜樺) Cabinet — and the number of legislators, this would be difficult to implement. If Taiwan were to switch to a Cabinet system, it would have to consider a restructuring of the Cabinet and an increase in legislators. It would also affect the structure of single-member districts and the ratio of legislators-at-large.
Chu also suggested that the single-member district, two-vote system be reviewed and that the threshold for allotted legislative seats be lowered. In addition, DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) a few days ago called for adopting the mixed-member proportional representation system in place in Germany.
Since the end of World War II, no party in the German parliament has ever held an absolute majority, making coalition governments the norm. If Taiwan’s legislative electoral system is changed to the German system, the nation must also be prepared for a multiparty system and coalition governments, as well as constructive votes of no confidence and other issues.
Will future constitutional reform in Taiwan be restricted to a different variant of the semi-presidential system? This could mean that the president appoints the premier, who must be approved by the legislature, that the Cabinet is formed by the legislative majority party or a coalition of parties, and that Cabinet members are also members of the legislature. This is an alternative that the political elites of the governing and opposition parties should not reject out of hand.
Wang Yeh-lih is a political science professor at National Taiwan University.
Translated by Perry Svensson
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