The Central Election Commission’s refusal to sponsor public debates unfairly disadvantages small parties, Citizen’s Congress Watch (CCW) said yesterday.
“This year there are 18 parties [on the legislator-at-large ballot] — which is a huge number — but the Central Election Commission is still doing extremely little to make sure that they are known by everyone,” CCW executive director Chang Hung-lin (張宏林) said.
CCW presented an official response from the commission to the group’s request that it host a debate for the parties, which said that the commission would purchase evening air time to allow parties to broadcast commercials several days prior to the Jan. 16 elections in lieu of a formal debate.
“This is a terrible abdication of responsibility, because the commission’s guiding principle should be to enable the public to elect talented and capable representatives. How can it choose to do as little as possible?” Chang said.
The Civil Servants Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法) requires the commission to purchase at least one hour of TV air time to publicize registered parties prior to legislative elections.
The commission’s plans also disadvantage small parties by failing to award each party equal air time, instead dividing time based on the size of each party’s legislator-at-large candidate list, Chang said.
CCW detailed plans to host an independent debate on legislative reform for some parties, saying that the topics and the number of parties that can be included are to be limited due to a lack of support from the commission.
“We do not have the authority to require TV stations do anything, so we will only be able to host one debate,” CCW board chair Hawang Shiow-duan (黃秀端) said, adding that support from the commission would enable the debate to include all registered parties and received by a wider audience.
Eight parties — the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), Democratic Progressive Party, People First Party, Taiwan Solidarity Union, New Power Party, Green Party-Social Democratic Party Alliance, Republican Party and Free Taiwan Party — are to be included in the debate, which is to be broadcast on Dec. 20 using time donated by Formosa Television.
CCW also criticized what it called the commission’s failure to actively educate the public about the legislator-at-large ballot, as well as “clinging to antiquated methods” — limiting the publication of each party’s policy platforms to print versions.
“This method is already several decades old. Now that the Internet is so convenient, why can they not set up a Web site section to allow candidates to post their platforms?” Chang said, adding that the commission was “extremely out of tune” with the times, as it has failed to provide a one-stop online platform where the public can learn about candidates’ policy views, sticking instead to posters with restricted word counts at polling stations.
“Its methods increase the challenges smaller parties face,” he said, adding that the commission’s unwillingness to actively publicize policy platforms reflected a wider institutional bias against small parties.
Given the expensive deposits required for the nomination of legislator-at-large candidates, all parties should have the right to be examined fully by the public, he said.
The commission had not considered holding a party debate, because such a debate is not mandated under the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act, which explicitly excludes legislator-at-large candidates from stipulations requiring the commission to provide candidates with an opportunity to outline their platforms, Central Election Commission Comprehensive Planning Division head Kao Mei-li (高美莉) said.
Plans for five hours of TV air time for party commercials in the week before the elections were already in excess of the law’s requirements, she added.
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