The legislative caucus of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday that it welcomes and supports Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng's (
The DPP caucus made the remarks after Wang said in an interview a day earlier that he will persuade the Independent Lawmakers Alliance to support a draft constitutional amendment bill that will pave the way for the much-anticipated legislative reforms.
Commenting on Wang's promise, DPP legislative whip Tsai Huang-lang (
"Wang's action plan is long overdue. We hope Wang can honor his promise to speed up the long-delayed legislative reforms," Tsai said.
According to the DPP-drafted constitutional amendment bill, the number of legislators will be cut to 113 from 225, the legislative tenure will be extended to four years from three and legislative elections will be changed to a "single-seat, two ballot" voting system from the present "multi-seat, one ballot" system.
The bill also stipulates that these new regulations will be implemented from the time of the seventh Legislative Yuan, which will be elected in 2008.
Under the Constitution, a Legislative Yuan-approved constitutional amendment bill is still subject to the endorsement of the "functional National Assembly." With the enactment of the Referendum Act last November, the Legislative Yuan's Constitutional Amendment Committee passed a draft bill March 14 this year to phase out the "functional National Assembly."
According to the bill, the legislature-approved constitutional amendment bill will be put up for a referendum by the electorate.
According to legislative sources, most independent lawmakers are reserved about the legislative reform bill, because they feel the new election system will prevent "relatively more obscure independent candidates" from winning legislative seats and that the bill does not offer clear measures to promote political participation by women and underprivileged groups.
Meanwhile, DPP Legislator Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁), a three-term lawmaker who has been designated spokesman for the new Cabinet, said that in addition to the reform measures, many existing Legislative Yuan operational rules should also be updated or revised to improve legislative efficiency and the legislature's overall image.
"The rules that should be amended include requiring the legislative speaker and deputy speaker to withdraw from political party activities, banning legislators from taking other jobs, tightening disciplinary rules, more strictly enforcing the ban on conflict of interest, phasing out the one-hour `speech forum' before each plenary session, improving the interpellation system, and establishing a seniority system for the legislature's standing committees," Chen said, adding that he hopes amendments the controversial operation rules can be completed before the end of the current legislative session.
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