The Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) will use a proposal to amend the Constitution and change the legislative electoral system as a bargaining chip in today’s party negotiation, the party said yesterday.
“The TSU is determined to achieve this goal at all costs, including a boycott of negotiations if the other parties do not agree to include the proposal in the legislative agenda,” TSU Chairman Huang Kun-huei (黃昆輝) told a press conference.
The party caucuses of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), the People First Party (PFP) and the TSU are scheduled to meet today to negotiate the opening date of the new legislative session, which requires a cross-party consensus.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
The current “two-vote, single-member district” system was first implemented in Taiwan in 2008. Under the system, only one legislator is elected from each constituency and each eligible voter can cast two ballots — one for a candidate representing the voter’s district and the other for a political party — to decide how many legislator-at-large seats each party can obtain.
A political party must win at least 5 percent of the party vote to be eligible for a share of the legislator-at-large seats.
The winner-takes-all approach and the current single-district electoral system have created votes of unequal value and produced imbalanced representation, Huang said, adding that the system also incited social division.
Huang stressed that the electoral system has to be reformed regardless of how difficult it might be, adding that the TSU only demands the proposal be listed on the agenda and discussed in the legislature
“We will do what is right no matter how difficult it is. And we are not doing this for the sake of the benefit of the TSU, but for the benefit of the Taiwanese people,” Huang said.
While the proposal has yet to be finalized, Huang said his party favors the mixed-member proportional representation system, which has been adopted by Germany, medium-sized constituencies and lowering of the threshold for eligibility for party list seats from the current 5 percent to 2 percent.
The party, which only has three seats, would discuss possible collaboration with the DPP because it would take the signatures of more than one-quarter of the legislators, or 29 seats, to launch the amendment proposal.
Almost every political party had called the electoral system flawed during the election period, TSU Legislator Huang Wen-ling (黃文玲) said.
“So why don’t we make a change?” she asked.
Meanwhile, the TSU also criticized President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) decision to skip making a “State of the Nation” report to the legislature, saying Ma’s citing of the Constitution was incorrect and reflected his lack of understanding of the law.
The amendment of the ROC Constitution stated that the president can make an annual national report to the legislature, Huang said, while the Law Governing the Legislative Yuan’s Power (立法院職權行使法) states that legislators can interpellate the president after his national report.
“The TSU demands that Ma make a national report to the legislature and take questions from the legislators,” Huang said.
The TSU’s plan to push for constitutional reform to change the legislative electoral system evoked a mixed response from other parties yesterday.
Voicing disapproval of the TSU’s decision, KMT Policy Committee chief Lin Hung-chih (林鴻池) said he respects the TSU’s right to express its opinions but added that it was inappropriate to resort to threats to achieve its goals.
With the “two-vote, single-member district” system having only been used twice in national elections, more discussion of the system’s advantages and disadvantages should be held before any move to amend the constitution, Lin said.
PFP legislative caucus convener Thomas Lee (李桐豪) said his party believes the TSU’s proposal is incomplete because it fails to address the issue of whether Taiwan should adopt a presidential or parliamentary system of government.
DPP caucus whip Pan Men-an (潘孟安) said the DPP would not rule out supporting the TSU’s proposal.
In addition to the legislative electoral system, the DPP hopes the proposed constitutional reform will also cover other issues, such as lowering the age of suffrage to 18, Pan said.
Additional reporting by CNA
NATIONAL SECURITY: Authorities are working to confirm the identities of the military personnel involved and investigating possible illegal conduct and regulatory violations Authorities are probing possible national security implications after Kinmen police and immigration officers on Sunday found a Chinese woman allegedly posing as a tourist while engaging in prostitution involving more than 10 military personnel. The woman, surnamed Chen (陳), has since been deported, authorities said, adding that investigators are still working to confirm the identities of those implicated, as the records only listed code names and aliases. The case stemmed from a report received by the Kinmen District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday last week from the Jinhu Precinct of the Kinmen County Police Bureau. On Sunday, police, along with the National Immigration
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
STAY COOL: The HPA recommended that people stay hydrated, use air-conditioning or fans while indoors, wear loose-fitting clothes and walk in the shade while outdoors Employers must implement measures such as installing cooling equipment, and providing drinking water and rest breaks for outdoor workers starting from Monday next week, the Taipei Department of Labor said on Sunday. Employers who fail to comply could face fines of NT$30,000 to NT$300,000 under the Occupational Safety and Health Act (職業安全衛生法), the department said. Businesses in Taipei employing fewer than 100 workers, as well as registered self-employed workers with labor insurance coverage, could receive on-site assessments and guidance from occupational safety consultants to help them apply for central government subsidies to implement or improve heat-protection measures, it said. Under the Ministry of
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
RSS