Analysts say DPP's initiative against `black gold' flawed

The DPP wants to abolish elections at the township and county municipality levels as a move against "black-gold" politics, but some academics have argued that abolishing the elections alone will not achieve the party's objectives.

"The black-gold problem exists at every level of elections. Can we abolish all of these elections? Obviously, we can't blame the problem solely on the existence of the elections," said Shyu Jeng-rong (徐正戎), an associate professor of constitutional law at National Sun Yat-Sen University.

The Executive Yuan is currently pushing for an amendment to the Local Systems Law (地方制度法) to abolish certain local elections, which have been criticized for rampant vote-buying and encouraging black gold practices at the grassroots level.

Under the amendment, the 309 mayoralties of townships and county municipalities would become appointed positions and part of the bureaucracy under county and provincial municipal governments.

Chang Cheng-shuh (張正修), a professor of public administration at Tamkang University, said unbalanced division of public resources plays a major role in the black gold problem at the grassroots level.

Chang said that most of the nation's resources are centralized in the northern part of the country, which has resulted in a brain drain from south to north.

"Politicians taking part in grassroots elections tend to have undesirable qualities, and this leads to the involvement of gangsters and money in these elections," Chang said.

Under the current system, townships and county municipalities enjoy very little autonomy, Chang said, and the kind of public affairs they handle do not usually exceed small-scale public construction projects.

"This offers little incentive for residents to participate in local politics, and local politics thus becomes a field for a small minority of people -- usually members of local political factions -- to gain personal interests," Chang said.

An inadequate fiscal system is also responsible for the problem of corruption at the grassroots level, Chang added.

Chen Yang-te (陳陽德), a professor of political science at Tunghai University and head of the university's local self-government research center, said the Executive Yuan-proposed amendment is not the best option for reform, because it will deprive local voters of their rights to participate in politics and hamper the autonomous development of local communities.

In order to correct the drawbacks of the current system -- while maintaining its merits -- Chen suggested that the government abolish the elections for the mayoralties of townships and county municipalities, but keep the elections for the township and county municipality assemblies.

Under Chen's proposal, county and provincial municipality governments would need to form a committee to select qualified candidates to serve as "managers" of their townships and county municipalities, while the township and county municipality assemblies would no longer enjoy any power to review budgets.