A recent survey indicates that 56.5 percent of Taiwanese favor changing the governmental system from a presidential system -- in which the president has authority over the government -- to a parliamentary system -- in which the legislature is the dominant authority.
In the opinion survey, conducted by the Taiwan Thinktank earlier this month, 1,088 respondents over 20 years of age answered questions about their attitude toward constitutional reform.
The results of the poll were released yesterday.
Only 19 percent of respondents said they supported a presidential system. Fifty-six percent said the nation should pursue a parliamentary system.
Constitution Reform Alliance Chairman Allen Houng (
However, among those who favored a parliamentary system, close to 62 percent said the nation's leader should still be directly elected.
Houng said the results could indicate that Taiwanese desire a "symbolic leader."
Chen Ming-tong (
Sixty-one percent of respondents also said that the nation's territory only included Taiwan proper, the Penghu Islands, Kinmen and Matsu, while 22.5 percent considered China and Mongolia part of the country's territory.
Chen said the poll result showed that most Taiwanese were pragmatic about territory issues.
However, he said it would not be appropriate for President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) to pursue an official change of territory in the Constitution because, in his inauguration speech three years ago, the president promised only to pursue constitutional reform in the interest of promoting government efficiency.
Seventy-six percent of respondents said that Taiwan belonged to the 23 million Taiwanese, while only 15 percent said Taiwan also belonged to China.
"This is a public opinion trend that deserves to be noticed because the results showed that about 70 percent of Taiwanese have a very clear `Taiwanese consciousness,'" Houng said.
"As long as Taiwan decides which political party controls the government through elections, all political parties desiring to take control must take this trend seriously," he said.
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