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TSU turns cold on approving changes to the Constitution

Following the People First Party's (PFP) change of position on the Constitutional amendment bill, the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) legislative caucus yesterday expressed reservations on supporting the ratification of the bill.

The expected islandwide National Assembly election, in which voters will select a party rather than a candidate, is scheduled for May 14. The Assembly's 300 seats will be divided up proportionally among the parties based on their share of the popular vote, and each party will then fill their seats from a preselected list.

The Assembly must meet one month after the election to ratify the constitutional amendment bill passed by the legislature in August. The bill would abolish the National Assembly, adopt a "single-member district, two-vote system" for legislative elections starting in 2008 and halve the number of legislative seats from the current 225 to 113.

TSU caucus whip Lo Chih-ming (羅志明) yesterday said that although his caucus supports the idea of halving legislative seats from the current 225 to 113, it does not back the adoption of the "single-member district, two-vote system" for legislative elections.

"We thought the legislative election system should be regulated in the Election and Recall Law of Civil Servants (公務人員選舉罷免法) rather than in the Constitution to prevent hindering the development of partisan politics," Lo said. He added that the "single-member district, two-vote system" may also exacerbate the problem of vote-buying and reduce the quality of lawmakers.

Lo insisted that the Constitutional amendment bill be ratified article by article rather than in one package, a request which would contradict a cross-party accord stipulating that the bill must be ratified in bulk. In addition, the TSU argues that at least two-thirds of the National Assembly must be present and that the consent of three-fourths of the members should be given to make the ratification valid.

The legislature passed a Constitutional amendment bill last August to abolish the National Assembly. After it is abolished, bills regarding constitutional amendments and territorial changes will be ratified via public referendum after passing the legislature. Currently, National Assembly approval is required for any such changes.

But lawmakers have not yet reached a consensus on whether a simple or supermajority should be necessary for this National Assembly in ratifying the Constitutional amendment bill. While the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislative caucuses argue that the consent of only half of the assembly members should be required, the TSU, People First Party (PFP) and the Non-Partisan Solidarity Union say that a three-fourths requirement makes more sense. Requiring a supermajority would give those smaller parties more leverage in the process.
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