The Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) on Monday expelled China-born legislator-at-large Li Zhenxiu (李貞秀), stripping her of her seat in the legislature. TPP Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) has distanced himself from any responsibility over the matter, choosing simply to say that Li did not meet the standards required of a legislator-at-large. The question then naturally arises: Why was someone so far below the mark ever allowed into the nation’s highest representative body, thereby undermining overall legislative competence, in the first place?
Most likely is that her nomination was a bad-faith attempt to drum up votes from Chinese spouses for TPP founder Ko Wen-je’s (柯文哲) presidential run, to which end the TPP and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) had their own agendas. Going back even further, the TPP’s special two-year clause for legislators-at-large introduced in 2024 had already sowed the seeds for a structural crisis.
Smaller parties typically struggle to win many party list-votes, leaving them with a surplus of candidates and a shortage of seats. By splitting the four-year legislative term in half, the TPP has been funneling two would-be legislators through a single seat as a way to supposedly amplify impact and cultivate political talent.
However, the downsides of this approach have become apparent well before any benefits. The legislature, after all, is not a cram school, and it is obvious to the public when green legislators are rushed into office. Being forced to make sense of their environment and learn on the fly, these legislators struggle to leave their mark or make any significant progress in their shortened two-year tenures.
Legislative work is extremely complex. From policy interpolation and budget reviews to voting for personnel appointments, mastering legislative rules of procedure and party negotiation tactics requires years of experience. In particular, participation in standing committees requires a level of professional maturity that cannot be achieved overnight, but must be accrued bit by bit.
Of the seven TPP legislators who stepped down in late January, most had only previously held positions as local representatives. Those who were not total newcomers to the legislature were, by and large, still novices, accustomed to hearing the crack of the party whip under the prevailing blue-white cooperation strategy.
Meanwhile, voters struggle to recall them or their legislative achievements. At most, all that comes to mind are unsavory incidents where a legislator is prosecuted for hurling insults at the head of state, or the more spectacularly incoherent questioning sessions. Even those coming from academic backgrounds in political science have become subject to ridicule.
Most absurd is that these legislators are unable to translate their fleeting tenures into even an ounce of personal or party political capital.
The idea of a two-year clause is not unique to the TPP: The Taiwan Solidarity Union implemented a similar policy as early as in 2012, with poor results. Something perhaps can be learnt from the party’s subsequent decline, with it failing to surpass the 5 percent threshold for party-list seats ever since. In reality, the two-year clause simply works to allow unqualified people to fill positions while crowding out genuinely capable talent — if any exists.
Having gone down this track, the TPP is suffering the consequences. Its public support has fallen to its lowest point in nearly three years. Even Li’s expulsion might not be enough to prevent its slide toward political irrelevance.
Chen Yung-chang is a freelance writer based in Taipei.
Translated by Gilda Knox Streader
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