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Legislative reform must include seat reduction: scholars

Decreasing the numbers of members of the legislature and increasing the quality of judges are key to the country's constitutional reform, said attendees of a forum aimed at crafting a new vision of a constitutional system yesterday.

"A poll result showing that over 70 percent of respondents endorsed halving the legislative seats of the country convinced us that there is sufficient support for the reduction," Hawang Shiow-duan (黃秀端), director of the political science department of Soochow University, said at a forum on legislative reform in Taipei yesterday afternoon.

Hawang suggested that the ideal legislature be comprised of 160 to 200 seats.

The country's single nontransferable vote (SNTV) system generates unnecessary political tension as candidates vie for a limited number of party nominations in one constituency, Hawang said. The parliamentary reform, she continued, must include a complete rewriting of parliamentary rules and regulations.

New rules that govern things such as committee formation would improve the nation's confidence in parliamentary discipline, she said.

Hawang proposed that only senior lawmakers be allowed to host legislative committees. Limits on lawmakers taking on other employment during their tenure should be put in place to avoid conflict of interests, she said.

Wellington Koo (顧立雄), a Formosa Transnational attorney, said that Taiwan's judicary reform should follow two guidelines. One, it should be even more independent from the executive and legislative branches than it already is and, two, it should instill greater confidence in the rule of law.

A merit system for the judiciary, including a regular review mechanism, should be established as a substitute for the current lifetime employment, Koo said. An inability to dismiss incompetent members from the judiciary is the result of the lack of such a system.
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