Mon, Mar 24, 2008 page2

• Post-Election 2008: ANALYSIS: Analysts mixed on how KMT will handle victory

  • By Flora Wang / STAFF REPORTER
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  Chinese Nationalist Party presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou's (馬英九) victory in Saturday's presidential election along with the KMT's two-thirds majority in the 113-seat legislature means the KMT has the ability to dominate the government.

  The voice of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which now accounts for 27 out of the 113 legislative seats and governs seven out of the nation's 25 cities and counties, has been weakened politically.

  Yang Chun-chih (楊鈞池), a government and law professor at the National University of Kao-hsiung, said how the KMT caucus handles its relations with the Cabinet before the presidential inauguration on May 20 will influence the KMT's performance in the "midterm" elections -- the city and county chief elections at the end of next year.

  Pan-blue legislators are expected to employ fierce attacks against DPP Cabinet officials during legislative interpellation sessions before the presidential inauguration, he said.

  Some KMT legislators may even express their "hostility" toward President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) more overtly now that the KMT has won the presidency, Yang said.

  Such fierce KMT criticism will be "inevitable" and should be viewed as a "normal" phenomenon because the KMT caucus will be closely watching every move the lame duck Cabinet makes.

  "However, such tense relations with the DPP Cabinet may put the KMT caucus in a dilemma, forcing it to consider how to prevent its legislators from exercising excessive oversight of the government," he said.

  "Voters might not take the negative consequences of a one-party dominance into consideration [during the presidential poll]," he said.

  Voters would be reminded of the consequences if the KMT caucus fails to keep its lawmakers under control, he said.

  Yang was also concerned about how Ma would be able to manage the KMT legislators after the inauguration.

  "After May 20, everyone will be watching whether Ma can keep the KMT caucus under control," he said, suggesting this goal could be achieved if Ma takes up the KMT chairmanship again.

  Unlike Yang, Ku Chung-hua (顧忠華), chairman of the Citizen Congress Watch (CCW), a civil organization supervising the legislature, said KMT legislators are likely to behave themselves over the next few months, which he described as a "honeymoon" period after the presidential election.

  Ku focused on the relations between the future KMT administration and the Legislative Yuan after Ma assumes office, saying that how the two government branches interact and negotiate with each other plays a key role in whether the nation will still suffer from "constitutional chaos."

  "In the past when the KMT enjoyed one-party dominance, national policies were decided by the KMT Central Standing Committee every Wednesday," Ku said. "However, such a manner was neither democratic nor constitutional."

  It would be a "setback of democracy" if the KMT government determines policies in the same way after Ma is sworn in, he said.

  Yang shared a similar view, saying that the honeymoon period between the KMT and voters who voted for Ma would soon be over if the KMT adopts its old policy-making approach.

  "When policies were determined by the KMT headquarters in the past, the Legislative Yuan was always criticized as nothing but a rubber stamp," Yang said.

  Ku called on Ma to establish a "clear mechanism of interaction and negotiation" between the government and the legislature.

  Chi Hui-jung (紀惠容), a member of the CCW and Garden of Hope Foundation director, said she hoped the KMT would practice self-restraint and self-discipline in the legislature over the next four years.

  Chi urged the president-elect to endorse the CCW's written agreement to ensure the transparency of the legislature, including making the legislature's video-on-demand (VOD) system, which records every open meeting of the legislature, available to the public.

  The VOD system can only be accessed from the network within the legislature.

  "If Ma is unwilling to sign the agreement, that would mean that he is not sure if he will be able to keep the legislature transparent," Ku said. "Legislative Speaker Wang [Jin-pyng] (王金平) has promised [to make the system available to the public], so this should be done as soon as possible."
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