The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislative caucus is seeking endorsement from legislators across party lines for a proposed constitutional amendment that would shorten President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) term by three months if the administration insists on combining the presidential and legislative elections next year.
The DPP caucus must obtain the support of a quarter of the 111-seat legislature for the proposal to become valid. Constitutional amendments require that three quarters of the legislators be present and it must be approved via public referendum.
DPP Legislator Chiu Yi-ying (邱議瑩) told the legislature’s -Internal Administration Committee yesterday that if the Central Elections Commission (CEC) decided to combine the two elections and hold the merged election in January next year, there would be a four-month gap between election day and the day the president and vice president take office.
Citing CEC statistics, Chiu said that Peru had the longest interval period in the world, at three months and 20 days.
It would only make sense to change the end date of Ma’s term from May 20 to Feb. 23 next year if the two elections were to be held simultaneously, she said.
Although the Presidential and Vice President Election and Recall Act (總統副總統選舉罷免法) states that the presidential election must be held 30 days before the terms of the president and vice president expire, it does not specify the length of time between the election and inauguration of a president and vice president. The CEC set the date for the elections at about 60 days before the incumbents’ terms expire, holding the poll on the Saturday closest to that date.
The DPP has proposed that the presidential election be held 30 to 40 days before the terms expire. It also proposed that a new law be enacted to regulate the handover during the transitional period.
CEC Chairperson Chang Po-ya (張博雅) told the committee the agency would decide on April 19 whether to hold the presidential election in tandem with the legislative poll.
Another meeting would be called if committee members cannot reach a consensus, she said.
If the two elections are held together, Chang said it would likely take place on Jan. 14. If they were not merged, the legislative election would be held in December and the presidential election in March next year.
There were no signs that polling stations would remain open for an extra hour to 5pm, she said.
The CEC also intends to release the results of an opinion poll tomorrow on the possibility of combining the two elections, Chang said, adding that a majority of respondents supported the move.
Minister of the Interior Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) said that as soon as the CEC decided whether to combine the elections, his ministry could decide whether to push for an absentee voting system.
“If the two elections are held together, we will not push for absentee voting, but if they are not, we will send the bill to the Executive Yuan, pending approval from the legislature. I think it is still possible to implement it in time,” he said.
Jiang said a poll conducted by the ministry showed that about 60 percent of respondents backed a combined election, while less than 30 percent did not. In addition, more supported holding the elections together than implementing an absentee voting system, he said.
Jiang and Chang said they hoped laws relating to the two elections would be amended in the long run if a merger occurred.
However, legal revisions should not be a factor in the decision on whether the two elections should be held concurrently this time around, Jiang said.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
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