Reform of the electoral system to increase both space and resources for minor political parties is required for the long-term development of Taiwan’s democracy, advocates said yesterday.
“Give them [smaller political parties] more opportunities and air to breathe,” People First Party (PFP) Legislator Chang Show-foong (張曉風) told a press conference organized by opposition party representatives.
“They will be able to bring a lot more positive feedback to society,” Chang said.
Photo: Lo Pei-der, Taipei Times
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Pasuya Yao (姚文智), Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) Legislator Lin Shih-chia (林世嘉) and Pan Han-sheng (潘翰聲), a member of the Green Party Taiwan, also took part in the event, which called for the threshold for government subsidies for political parties to be lowered.
Pan proposed lowering the threshold for government subsidies from a 5 percent share of the vote to 1 percent — or even 0.5 percent — as is the case in Germany.
Parties that receive more than 5 percent of the vote in a general election receive a NT$50 (US$1.7) subsidy for each vote from the government, with four parties receiving a total subsidy of NT$616 million.
Lowering the threshold would increase the subsidy by about NT$40 million, a relatively small amount for the major parties, but a boost for their smaller counterparts, Pan said.
The Central Election Commission and the Ministry of the Interior agreed in principle with the proposal during a meeting of the legislature’s Internal Affairs Committee yesterday afternoon.
At a separate press conference, former Tainan County commissioner Su Huan-chih (蘇煥智) also proposed overhauling the electoral system, adding that he would establish a non-partisan alliance to promote the legislation if he is elected DPP chairman.
Su proposed adopting an electoral system based on the one used in Germany — a mixed-member proportional representation system — to replace the current system, under which legislators are elected to districts with drastically different populations, leading to the “votes of unequal value” phenomenon.
In the Seventh Legislative Yuan, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) won 61 seats with 53 percent of the vote, while the DPP won only 13 seats, despite it winning 38 percent of the vote.
The KMT controls 60 percent of the 73 regional seats with a 48 percent share of the vote, while the DPP only has 27 seats after receiving a 40 percent share of the vote, Su said.
Public opinion is therefore not appropriately represented in the legislature under the current system, which over time could have a negative impact on political stability and the check-and-balance mechanism, he said.
Su also proposed increasing the number of legislator-at-large seats from 34 to 79 and lowering the threshold for parties to receive the seats from 5 percent to 3 percent.
FAST TRACK? Chinese spouses must renounce their Chinese citizenship and pledge allegiance to Taiwan to gain citizenship, some demonstrators said Opponents and supporters of a bill that would allow Chinese spouses to obtain Taiwanese citizenship in four years instead of six staged protests near the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday morning. Those who oppose the bill proposed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) demanded that Chinese spouses be granted citizenship only after renouncing their Chinese citizenship, passing a citizenship test and pledging allegiance to Taiwan. The demonstrators, who were protesting at a side entrance to the Legislative Yuan on Jinan Road, were mostly members of the Taiwan Association of University Professors and other organizations advocating Taiwanese independence. Supporters of the bill, led
SILENT MAJORITY: Only 1 percent of Chinese rejected all options but war to annex Taiwan, while one-third viewed war as unacceptable, a university study showed Many Chinese are more concerned with developments inside their country than with seeking unification with Taiwan, al-Jazeera reported on Friday. Although China claims Taiwan as its own territory and has vowed to annex it, by force if necessary, 23-year-old Chinese Shao Hongtian was quoted by al-Jazeera as saying that “hostilities are not the way to bring China and Taiwan together.” “I want unification to happen peacefully,” Shao said. Al-Jazeera said it changed Shao’s name to respect his wish for anonymity. If peaceful unification is not possible, Shao said he would prefer “things to remain as they are,” adding that many of his friends feel
Taiwan has “absolute air superiority” over China in its own airspace, Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) told a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee on Monday, amid concern over whether Taipei could defend itself against a military incursion by Beijing. Po made the remarks in response to a question from Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chiu Chih-wei (邱志偉) on whether Taiwan would have partial or complete air superiority if Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) warplanes were to enter Taiwan’s airspace. Po, a retired pilot, said that the Taiwanese military has “absolute air superiority” over PLA
A shipment of basil pesto imported by Costco Wholesale Taiwan from the US in the middle of last month was intercepted at the border after testing positive for excessive pesticide residue, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. Samples taken from a shipment of the Kirkland Signature brand of basil pesto imported by Costco contained 0.1 milligrams per kilogram of ethylene oxide, exceeding the non-detectable limit. Ethylene oxide is a carcinogenic substance that can be used as a pesticide. The 674kg shipment of basil pesto would either be destroyed or returned to its country of origin, as is the procedure for all