Over the last few days, the quarrel over the budget for the vice-presidential residence has become more intense. Regard-less of who is right, the relationship between President Chen Shui-bian (
Neither France nor Germany has a vice president. Germany has a parliamentary system and even though the German Basic Law stipulates the president's powers to approve every kind of emergency law, they are rarely exercised. If they are, it is always in accordance with the suggestions of the prime minister, whose party holds a parliamentary majority. And since the German president is basically a symbolic head of state, there is no need for a vice president. If, due to an accident, the presidency becomes empty, the president of the Bundestag becomes acting federal president.
The status and powers of the French president cannot be compared to those of Germany's. Maybe because of this, a new election must be held within 35 days should the presidential seat become vacant. In the meantime, the president of the Senate becomes acting president, but without the rights to implement emergency orders and with other important restrictions on his powers. The president of the Senate temporarily acted as president after Charles de Gaulle's resignation in 1969 and then again after the death of Georges Pompidou in 1974.
The US does have a vice president, but the main responsibility of the job is to be on stand-by. When John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, Lyndon Johnson succeeded him. Apart from this, the president's choice of vice president is normally based on concerns of regional balance and support, and because of this, has almost always been a competitor from within the president's own party. Also because of this, the vice president is normally not a part of the decision making nucleus, or "kitchen cabinet."
The important thing is that the US vice president is able to follow constitutional and political convention. Al Gore was Bill Clinton's vice president for eight years, but it was not until 2000, when he won the Democratic Party's presidential nomination, that he started to become his own man.
In comparison, vice presidents in Taiwan have been a source of conflict ever since 1996. First it was the application for a constitutional exception for Lien Chan's (
Lu's election has been followed by repeated clashes between her and Chen. On the eve of her installation as vice president, she sparked controversy by giving instructions to her successor as Taoyuan County Commissioner, violating several constitutional norms. She then required "co-rule by the two sexes" (
From an academic point of view, Chen could ask Lu to take the initiative and resign as vice president, but given constitutional norms and the current political situation, this will not be easy to do. In view of this situation, there is much room for a discussion of whether or not Taiwan should retain a vice presidency.
Hu Tsu-ching is an associate professor in the department of political science at Tunghai University.
Translated by Perry Svensson
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