Former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chairman Lin I-hsiung (
"At this historic moment when the two pairs of presidential candidates of the ruling and opposition parties have all made pledges to the public on legislative reform, we have to remind the candidates that people will not allow themselves to be deceived again.
"We hope the presidential candidates could instruct the lawmakers of their respective parties to pass the constitutional amendment proposal [to halve the number of seats] by the March 20 election," Lin said yesterday.
He said the reason that he and Lee proposed the petition is because the opposition parties have taken no concrete actions to pass the proposal, despite Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (
"The proposal to cut the number of legislative seats in half was a consensus reached by all parties three years ago in the legislative election and is recognized by society. However, these promises remain as empty words as so far we have not seen concrete results," Lin said.
He said that since last December, when the KMT, DPP and TSU jointly put forward the proposal to halve the number of seats, no concrete actions have been taken by the lawmakers.
"Such simple actions kept on being delayed and made people wonder whether the promises they made were simply some kind of political gimmick," he said.
Lin has previously received endorsements from the DPP and Lien for his campaign to push for legislative reform.
The DPP has made it a priority administrative task to pass the constitutional amendment proposal in the current legislative session, while Lien has made a similar promise to Lin, who had made two personal visits to Lien to solicit pan-blue support.
The endorsement of the petition by the Academia Sinica president sparked speculation on whether Lee, a Nobel laureate and a respected academic, would throw support behind President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) re-election bid.
Lee did not attend yesterday's press briefing and Lin made a joint statement on his behalf.
Asked by a reporter whether Lee's signing of the petition on the legislative reform -- a stated policy of Chen's -- suggested Lee's support for Chen, Lin said, "The only reason we signed this petition is because we want politicians to know that they have to take their words seriously and that the people don't want to be deceived again."
Lin also said that Lee will only show up to report on the progress of the petition later this month.
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