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Professors propose referendum on size of legislature

"We must cut the number of legislative seats by half if Taiwan politics are to enter a reasonable stage truly representative of the people."

Lee Yung-chih, historian at National Taiwan University and a member of the Taiwan Association of University Professors

Members of the Taiwan Association of University Professors (台灣教授協會) yesterday proposed holding a non-binding referendum along with the year-end legislative elections to let the people vote on a plan to lessen the size of the legislature.

The plan was proposed as a way to upgrade the efficiency of the legislature and has won the support of more than 70 percent of the public in polls.

DPP candidates for the legislative race are planning to call for the referendum during their election campaigns.

The association, a pro-DPP group, said using the elections as an opportunity to hold the referendum would exert strong pressure on lawmakers to amend the Constitution to allow for a smaller legislative body.

Constitutional amendments need to be passed by the legislature by a three-quarters majority and ratified by the National Assembly, also with a three-quarters majority, before they can be writ-ten into the Constitution.

"We must cut the number of legislative seats by half if Taiwan politics are to enter a reasonable stage truly representative of the people," said Lee Yung-chih (李永熾), a member of the association and historian at National Taiwan University.

Lee said the inefficiency of the legislature and the poor quality of the legislators themselves contribute to the fact that a lawmaker can now easily be elected by appealing to a small minority of people.

The group has proposed reducing the number of legislative seats to 120 from the present 225 seats to enlarge the constituency a lawmaker represents.

It also said that Taiwan, where one legislative seat represents an average of 98,000 people, has too many lawmakers compared with the US and Japan, where one seat represents an average 630,000 and 260,000 people, respectively.

In line with the reform, the group has also proposed adopting a single-member district system, under which one lawmaker is elected from one constituency.

At present, more than one legislative seat is available in each constituency, with the number varying according to the population of the constituency concerned.

The system has been criticized as one that intensifies the vicious competition surrounding legislative elections -- even between candidates of the same party.

Also, under the present system, some candidates can get elected by garnering just a few thousand votes.

"The changes will ensure that only the best candidate is elected in each constituency," said Chuang Sheng-jung (莊勝榮), a lawyer and former National Assembly deputy from the DPP, who has joined the group to promote the proposed reforms.

Chuang said holding a referendum on the issue will enable the people to express their strong support for the change, which would be impossible without lawmakers' support.

The DPP has long proposed resorting to referendums to resolve public policy disputes, despite the fact that Taiwan does not have a referendum law, considered to be crucial to ensure the credibility of the ballot.

Some DPP politicians have also called for a referendum on the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant (核四) project during the year-end elections.
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