The DPP headquarters yesterday approved draft amendments to the Constitution that would slash the number of legislative seats from 225 to 150, adopt a "single-member district, two ballot" system for legislative elections and extend legislators' terms from three to four years.
The onus is now on the DPP legislative caucus to push the proposal through the legislature.
According to the Constitution, the proposal would require the approval of more than 75 percent of the legislators present at a plenary session of the Legislative Yuan, which itself would require the participation of more than 75 percent of the legislature.
Elections would then have to be held for the National Assembly, now an ad hoc institution which meets only to discuss amendments to the Constitution. Three-quarters of the assembly has to approve the bill for it to pass.
If the proposal passes the legislature and National Assembly in time, the new method of electing legislators would be implemented beginning in 2004.
Legislators elected in that year would have terms of three years, three months and 19 days, so that the following legislative elections would coincide with the presidential election in 2008.
Thereafter, both legislators and the president would be elected on the same day every four years.
Addressing a press conference held at the DPP headquarters yesterday afternoon, Michael You (游盈隆), the party's deputy secretary-general, said that the proposal has a long way to go before it can become reality.
"We will try our best to garner support from opposition parties, including holding cross-party negotiations and a party leader summit," You said.
According to the proposal, the legislature would comprise 60 legislator-at-large seats and 90 legislators elected directly from the districts, including six Aboriginal legislators.
The legislator-at-large seats would be filled according to the percentage of the vote each party receives. To qualify for legislator-at-large seats a party would have to win at least 5 percent of the votes for parties.
Every party would nominate at least one female candidate for every four nominations for legislators-at-large.
The proposal also recommends a "single-member district, two ballot" system for legislative elections and extend the terms of legislators from three to four years.
Taiwan has a "multi-member district" system, with some constituencies choosing more than 10 legislators, even though each elector has only one vote.
The proposal reconciled three proposals of the DPP legislative caucus with the Government Reform Committee's proposal on the number of legislators and the nature of the electoral system.
While the Presidential Office believed that it was necessary to keep seats for overseas legislators, some lawmakers proposed that the seats for overseas legislators should be abolished.
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