"If you're not careful, a coalition government can easily become a sort of political booty-sharing (政治分贓)," Tsai says.
Tsai says Taiwan must establish a political culture where there is a consensus to "struggle on a rational basis" to make any system workable.
The KMT, People First Party and New Party -- which together control approximately two-thirds of the legislative seats -- have been quick to form an opposition coalition in the wake of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant tumult.
The opposition coalition has threatened to raise a motion to recall Chen, while pressuring the president to stop what it claims is his "deviation" from the constitutional framework. According to the opposition's logic, Chen should abide by the principle of a semi-presidential system by "respecting the majority opinion in the legislature" in his appointment of the premier.
Calls for the replacement of Premier Chang have been heard from some politicians, based on this claim.
Ironically, while pressing the president to abide by the Constitution, KMT lawmakers have been reluctant to resort to their constitutional power to launch a vote of no-confidence against Chang's Cabinet.
"The legislature may be dismissed if a no-confidence vote is successful. The KMT, as a majority party, is of course unwilling to take this step," Su said.
In the case of a re-election, many analysts believe, the KMT may lose its majority status.
Tsai argues that launching a no-confidence vote is the institutional measure to check Chen's administration and a way to justify the KMT's claim that the bid is backed by the majority of the people.
"Otherwise, there will be no way to prove that the legislature still represents a public opinion that is comparable to the one reflected in the March 18 presidential election," Tsai says.
Amid the political turmoil, there have been proposals for constitutional reform to restore a confidence-vote on the president's appointment of the premier, to ensure the premier is supported by the majority of lawmakers.
Some DPP politicians have even suggested giving the president a proactive power to dissolve the legislature, so that there is a possibility to change the legislature's structure.
In the French system, the prospect of political conflict and deadlock is tempered by the fact that the president can dissolve parliament and remove the premier.
Ironically, it was the DPP that blocked the KMT's original plan to grant the president a proactive power to dissolve the legislature in the 1997 constitutional reform.
Looking back now, winning the 2000 presidential election was just an unexpected development for the party.
Su notes that the DPP's strategic thinking in 1997 was based on the anticipation that none of the political parties would control more than half of the legislative seats in subsequent elections.
"No one expected that events would go in exactly the opposite direction. The DPP won the presidency," Su said.
Tsai says all these ridiculous developments prove that for politicians, the Constitution is no more than a tool to grab power.
"The Constitution has become a weapon of political struggle. Nobody has considered it to be a standard deserving of respect. It is a tool used by politicians to support specific claims and motives," Tsai says.
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