In democratic countries, elections are a means to settling political disputes.
In Taiwan, however, election outcomes are frequently the beginning of disputes and controversy. In the 2004 presidential election and the just concluded mayoral election in Kaohsiung, the voters' decision was not accepted by the defeated party, thereby intensifying the conflict between the governing and opposition parties.
Not only that, following the Dec. 9 mayoral and city councilor elections, the conflict between the Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) pro-localization faction and supporters of KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (
Although the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) performed relatively well in the elections and may have put an end to its declining support, which helped President Chen Shui-bian (
Less than a week after the elections, Lu, who couldn't stand the tense atmosphere, began firing in all directions, aiming at the opposition, the president and the other DPP heavyweights.
There may be many reasons for all this conflict, but the catalyst that set off this escalation of tension is the 2008 presidential election. One could even say that in the 10 years since 1996, when Taiwan held its first direct presidential election, the public has been caught in the crossfire of political heavyweights jockeying for position.
In 1996, former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) responded to the DPP's calls for the abolition of the provincial government. Former Taiwan provincial governor James Soong (宋楚瑜) regarded Lee's decision as an attempt to prevent him from running for the presidency, which triggered the first wave of infighting between top KMT politicians trying to win the presidential nomination.
This conflict between KMT heavyweights persisted until the 2004 presidential elections ,when former KMT chairman Lien Chan (
That rivalry has become even more unpredictable after the just-concluded elections. Moreover, persistent rumors have it that Lien still is interested in running for office.
After Chen once again emerged victorious in the 2004 presidential election, conflict immediately appeared among the DPP's four heavyweights and they have all seen constant changes in their fortunes since then.
Competition between a multitude of people and political forces is a normal part of democracy. Once diversity has been accepted as a constituent part of democracy, competition becomes an integral part of the democratic framework.
The relentless scramble for the presidency among the nation's political heavyweights, however, has placed society in a continuous state of turmoil for a decade.
It is becoming clear that there are serious problems in the ability of Taiwan's political system to integrate the nation's underlying social conflict. The root cause of this problem comes from previous constitutional amendments that led to the division of the central government into several "fiefdoms."
The party system must complement the operations of a central government. There must be a power balance and a system for policy integration. For instance, the presidential system is balanced by the division of the executive and legislative branches of government, and weaker political parties together with a presidential veto are beneficial to policy integration.
In a cabinet system of government, the supervisory and balancing roles are mainly filled by the ruling and opposition parties, while the leader of the parliamentary majority performs the policy integration function.
In France's semi-presidential system, an important policy integration mechanism is the meeting of the president with his ministers and the submission of important issues to referendums.
Under Taiwan's current system, the president does not hold the veto power of the US president, nor does he have the French president's power to hold ministerial meetings and initiate referendums. In addition, he is faced with the opposition's legislative majority, which makes it difficult to integrate various policy suggestions.
The party system consists of both strong and externally generated parties. The DPP was created through social movements as opposed to internally generated parties constructed within the political system by politicians, such as the People First Party or the New Party. Party chairmen are not legislators, and they and the parties' caucus leaders follow their own separate agendas, which blocks parties from playing a policy integration role.
As a result of this fatally flawed system, central government power has been divided into what is basically six separate kingdoms: the president, the premier, the ruling party's legislative caucus, the ruling party's headquarters, the opposition party's legislative caucus and its party headquarters.
The competition between ambitious people has developed into an endless competition for the presidency between political heavyweights that relegates national interests and the people's livelihood to secondary importance and distorts democratic principles.
Winning the presidency does not end political confrontation or give a mandate for a particular policy platform -- in fact quite the reverse.
Lin Cho-shui is a former Democratic Progressive Party legislator.
Translated by Daniel Cheng
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