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Cabinet readies changes to legislature's election rules

The Executive Yuan yesterday dismissed a media report that the Cabinet has approved change to the rules for next year's legislative elections that would change the way legislators are chosen.

The report said that the government would replace the current multi-member district, one-vote electoral rules with a two-vote system (兩票制) with the single-member district and two-vote system (單一選區兩票制) the DPP has been advocating.

"It violates not only President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) election promise but also the conclusion reached by the Presidential Office's task force on congressional reform," Cabinet Spokesman Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) told the press conference held after the weekly closed-door Cabinet meeting yesterday morning.

According to Lin, the Cabinet is reviewing draft amendments to the Election and Recall Law (選罷法), which would revamp the method of electing members to the legislature, redraw the constituency boundaries and set a quota for the number of female legislators. But, said Lin, the Cabinet has made no conclusions.

"A two-vote system is just one of the many possibilities discussed during the review meeting," Lin said. "If all goes well, we hope to send the final draft to the legislature for final approval during the next legislative session."

The government has been trying to overhaul electoral rules to replace the current multi-member district, one-vote system with a single-member district, two-vote system by the end of this year.

If all goes smoothly, the Cabinet hopes to redraw the constituency districts next January, allowing the reforms to be applied to the Sixth Legislature, due to be elected in December next year.

The best-case-scenario, Lin added, would be to hold a referendum and let the people decide the method of choosing representatives in the legislature.

"It would be the best way to push for legislative reform if we have the backing of the public," he said.

Lin also revealed that the Cabinet's referendum review committee will be launched either today or tomorrow to further review the issues suitable for referendums.

Under the Cabinet's enforcement measure for the holding of referendums, an 11- to 15-person referendum review committee will be set up to scrutinize the issues for referendums and implementation plans put forth by the authorities concerned.

The Cabinet will then have to promulgate the referendum issues within 10 days of their passage in a Cabinet meeting. The voting date must be arranged within two months from the day the issues are made public. Debates and seminars must be held during that two-month period.

The enforcement measure was drawn up in case legislation governing referendums cannot be passed by the legislature in time. The Cabinet sent a draft of the initiative and referendum bill to the legislature for review last April, but KMT and PFP lawmakers united to create a deadlock over the issues a plebiscite should cover. As a result, that bill stalled in the legislature.

In addition to revamping the electoral system, the DPP has put forth a timetable for downsizing the legislature -- from 225 members to 150 members -- to be carried out by January 2004.

To that end, the party has given top priority to push for the passage of the constitutional reform bills before December, since the Constitution stipulates that they must be put before the public for six months.

Responding to the Cabinet's proposal of a two-vote system, the opposition KMT and PFP parties yesterday dismissed it as another DPP gambit to divert people's attention away from what they say is the government's lackluster administration.

KMT legislative caucus leader Lee Chia-chin (李嘉進) said that the proposal showed that the government was not serious in its reform efforts.

"While we've been pushing for downsizing the legislative seats from 225 to 113 and the single-member district, two-vote system, the DPP is doing nothing but tinkering with the system," Lee said.

To show what he said is the KMT's resolve and sincerity in pushing for legislative reform, Lee said the party will make public a policy white paper on the initiative in September and participate in the discussions of the legislature's constitutional amendment committee.

PFP legislator Chiu Yi (邱毅) criticized the Cabinet's proposal as a cover-up of what he said what Chen's inability to make good on his election promise.

"The government is well aware that it's impossible to fully materialize Chen's election promise. That's why it came up with this idea to find an easy way out," he said.

The PFP will present its own version of legislative reform in the near future, Chiu said.
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