Lawmakers from the three major parties formed an alliance yesterday to push for an early start of the long-talked-about reform of the Legislative Yuan.
The DPP's Chen Chin-teh (
The lawmakers said many candidates had listed "promoting downsizing of the legislature and putting an end to legislative chaos" as their major campaign promises during last December's elections.
Relations between the ruling and opposition camps have remained tense since the inauguration of the new legislature in February and discussions on reforms have been futile so far.
The lawmakers said they are worried that legislative reforms will still be a pipe dream when their terms end in three years.
Since cutting the number of seats is the least contentious reform proposal, Chen said the new alliance would first focus on forging an inter-party consensus on the issue.
The Constitution stipulates that the legislature should have 225 members. Any change to the number of seats would require constitutional amendments which need the support of all major political parties.
"Given the complex and onerous process of amending the Constitution, ruling and opposition parties should sit down to patiently discuss how to design a more reasonable size, framework or structure for our new legislature," Chen said.
As to how the new legislators would be elected and how constituencies would be readjusted, Chen said those details can be prescribed in a law instead of being put into the Constitution.
Tsai echoed Chen's view, saying that most countries in the world only stipulate the number of parliamentary seats in their constitutions and set out parliamentary electoral systems in separate laws.
Noting that the main purpose of the reforms is not just to scale down the legislature, Tsai said all major parties should rationally and extensively discuss adjusting the number of seats to a reasonable level in order to ensure smooth and efficient operations in the lawmaking body.
The Government Reform Committee unveiled a legislative reform blueprint on Sunday. According to the plan, the number of seats should be cut to from 225 to 150. It also recommends a "single-member district, two vote" system for legislative elections and an extension of the terms of legislators from three to four years.
The plan has drawn criticism from the opposition parties. Even many DPP legislators have said that they disagree with certain aspects of the plan. The DPP legislative caucus and the party headquarters are still integrating their own versions of the reform plan.
The KMT and the PFP legislative caucuses are also drafting their own reform proposals.
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Monday called for greater cooperation between Taiwan, Lithuania and the EU to counter threats to information security, including attacks on undersea cables and other critical infrastructure. In a speech at Vilnius University in the Lithuanian capital, Tsai highlighted recent incidents in which vital undersea cables — essential for cross-border data transmission — were severed in the Taiwan Strait and the Baltic Sea over the past year. Taiwanese authorities suspect Chinese sabotage in the incidents near Taiwan’s waters, while EU leaders have said Russia is the likely culprit behind similar breaches in the Baltic. “Taiwan and our European
The Taipei District Court sentenced babysitters Liu Tsai-hsuan (劉彩萱) and Liu Jou-lin (劉若琳) to life and 18 years in prison respectively today for causing the death of a one-year-old boy in December 2023. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said that Liu Tsai-hsuan was entrusted with the care of a one-year-old boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), in August 2023 by the Child Welfare League Foundation. From Sept. 1 to Dec. 23 that year, she and her sister Liu Jou-lin allegedly committed acts of abuse against the boy, who was rushed to the hospital with severe injuries on Dec. 24, 2023, but did not
LIKE-MINDED COUNTRIES: Despite the threats from outside, Taiwan and Lithuania thrived and developed their economies, former president Tsai Ing-wen said Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Saturday thanked Lithuania for its support of Taiwan, saying that both countries are united as partners in defending democracy. Speaking at a reception organized by the Lithuania-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Group welcoming her on her first visit to the Baltic state, Tsai said that while she was president from 2016 to last year, many Lithuanian “friends” visited Taiwan. “And I told myself I have to be here. I am very happy that I am here, a wonderful country and wonderful people,” Tsai said. Taiwan and Lithuania are in similar situations as both are neighbors to authoritarian countries, she
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) is to visit the UK during her ongoing European trip, which originally included only Lithuania and Denmark, her office said today. Tsai departed Taiwan for Europe on Friday night, with planned stops in Lithuania and Denmark, marking her second visit to the continent since her two-term presidency ended in May last year. Her office issued a statement today saying that Tsai would also visit the UK "for a few days," during which she is to meet with UK politicians and Taiwanese professionals, and visit academic and research institutions. Following Tsai's stop in Denmark, she is to visit the
RSS