Mon, Nov 27, 2000 page3

• Scholars say Constitution at heart of political crisis

  BALANCE OF POWER Constitutional amendments made in 1997 mean that the president can appoint a premier without the legislature's approval. This opened the door to conflict between the president and the opposition parties, experts say

  • By Stephanie Low / STAFF REPORTER
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  While many have blamed the political instability of the past six months on the "minority" nature of the government led by President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), some scholars point to the weaknesses of the ROC Constitution.

  In particular, constitutional law scholars say that a bungled attempt at reforming the Constitution in 1997 has been a contributing factor to the current state of political chaos.

  Their opinions are divided, however, over a possible solution to the problem and whether the creation of a coalition government is the answer.

  "Theoretically speaking, the president can appoint anyone to become the premier under the present system. But the president should be aware that the premier he appoints will never be able to implement any of his policies unless these policies reflect the preferences of a majority of lawmakers," says Tsai Tzung-jen (蔡宗珍), associate professor of law at Tamkang University.

  This is exactly the reason why there has been a tradition of cohabitation (左右共治) in France, where a semi-presidential system (雙首長制) was first introduced in the Constitution of the Fifth Republic (第五共和), devised by Charles de Gaulle in 1958, Tsai added.

  "This is a political maneuver based on practical needs, though it is not required constitutionally," Tsai points out.

  The semi-presidential system, according to constitutional law scholars, refers to a form of government with a separately-elected president who shares executive power with the premier. It alternates between presidential and parliamentary systems, depending on which party, or coalition of parties, maintains the majority in the legislature.

  In cohabitation, the separately-elected president faces a premier and majority party in the legislature who are from a different party than his own.

  No precedent of cohabitation, however, has been established in Taiwan, which most scholars concur acquired the constitutional framework for a semi-presidential system in 1997.

  The 1997 round of constitutional reform was jointly accomplished by the KMT and the DPP to induce major changes to the constitutional framework. These were in addition to those already undertaken with the introduction in 1994 of a popular vote to select the president.

  The main intention of the KMT's reforms, under the leadership of former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝), was in fact to remove a constitutional restriction on the president in appointing the premier -- namely that the appointment had to be confirmed by a majority vote of the legislature.

  With the legislature's power to block the appointment of the premier removed, it was instead given the power to propose a no-confidence vote against the premier. Passage of a no-confidence vote, however, may lead to a retaliatory move from the president, who can dismiss the legislature and force re-elections.

  Unlike the French system, Taiwan's system does not empower the president to dissolve the legislature on a proactive basis.

  These experimental measures have been put to the test after the DPP's Chen, who won the presidential race by a close margin with 39 percent of the votes, assumed the presidency on May 20 of this year. For the first time, the president faces a legislature in which the majority party is not his own.

  The KMT has the majority of seats in the legislature and will continue to do so at least until the next legislative election, scheduled for December 2001. The DPP only controls approximately one-third of the legislative seats.

  Chen first appointed Tang Fei (唐飛) as premier, a decision based partly on the assumption that Tang's identity as a senior KMT member would win him support from KMT lawmakers. But this turned out not to be the case.

  Most major policies put forth by Tang's Cabinet, including plans to implement a 44-hour workweek and issue monthly stipends for senior citizens, failed to win the KMT's support.

  A frequently cited cause behind the problem was that Tang's appointment was not based on an official DPP-KMT agreement, so there was no reason to expect KMT lawmakers to endorse the policies raised by Tang's Cabinet.

  After Tang stepped down on Oct. 3 over disagreement with President Chen on the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant project (核四), Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) from the DPP was appointed to take over.

  Chang's announcement of the government's decision to scrap the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant on Oct. 27, which was made in defiance of strong disapproval from opposition lawmakers, has triggered the most severe political turmoil since Chen's inauguration.

  Su Yeong-chin (蘇永欽), a professor of constitutional law at National Chengchi University, says the president has to realize that under the present system, in which the premier is accountable to the legislature, the president will have problems controlling the Executive Yuan when he has no control over the Legislative Yuan.

  "Every single cent spent by the Executive Yuan needs to obtain the legislature's approval through the passage of a budget. Every single thing done by the Executive Yuan needs authorization from legislation," Su said.

  Su says average Taiwanese people have a mistaken notion that the presidency is a very powerful position, based on their impressions of former President Lee.

  However, people tend to ignore the constitutional fact that Lee's power was in fact derived from his firm control over the legislature, the premier he supported as well as his status as chairman of the KMT.

  "People have projected on Chen the role that Lee used to play," Su said.

  Su reasons that Chen has taken advantage of this status attached to the president in refusing to form a coalition with another political party to ensure stability for his policies, regardless of the DPP's minority status in the legislature.

  The fact that the Constitution does not require a confidence-vote on the appointment of the premier offers Chen even more freedom to appoint the premier based on his own will, according to Su.

  Kao Lang (高朗), a professor of political science at National Taiwan University, says President Chen has overestimated his own power, while underestimating the power of the legislature.

  "Chen has insisted on forming a minority government when there is evidently a political party controlling over half of the seats in the legislature. This is an unforgivably strange constitutional phenomenon," Kao says.

  Kao says in other countries, a minority government usually appears because there is not a single party which holds over half of the legislative seats, or because there is no way to form a majority coalition.

  Unlike Su and Kao, Tsai does not think a coalition government is feasible in Taiwan, where political parties have loose discipline.

  "If you're not careful, a coalition government can easily become a sort of political booty-sharing (政治分贓)," Tsai says.

  Tsai says Taiwan must establish a political culture where there is a consensus to "struggle on a rational basis" to make any system workable.

  The KMT, People First Party and New Party -- which together control approximately two-thirds of the legislative seats -- have been quick to form an opposition coalition in the wake of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant tumult.

  The opposition coalition has threatened to raise a motion to recall Chen, while pressuring the president to stop what it claims is his "deviation" from the constitutional framework. According to the opposition's logic, Chen should abide by the principle of a semi-presidential system by "respecting the majority opinion in the legislature" in his appointment of the premier.

  Calls for the replacement of Premier Chang have been heard from some politicians, based on this claim.

  Ironically, while pressing the president to abide by the Constitution, KMT lawmakers have been reluctant to resort to their constitutional power to launch a vote of no-confidence against Chang's Cabinet.

  "The legislature may be dismissed if a no-confidence vote is successful. The KMT, as a majority party, is of course unwilling to take this step," Su said.

  In the case of a re-election, many analysts believe, the KMT may lose its majority status.

  Tsai argues that launching a no-confidence vote is the institutional measure to check Chen's administration and a way to justify the KMT's claim that the bid is backed by the majority of the people.

  "Otherwise, there will be no way to prove that the legislature still represents a public opinion that is comparable to the one reflected in the March 18 presidential election," Tsai says.

  Amid the political turmoil, there have been proposals for constitutional reform to restore a confidence-vote on the president's appointment of the premier, to ensure the premier is supported by the majority of lawmakers.

  Some DPP politicians have even suggested giving the president a proactive power to dissolve the legislature, so that there is a possibility to change the legislature's structure.

  In the French system, the prospect of political conflict and deadlock is tempered by the fact that the president can dissolve parliament and remove the premier.

  Ironically, it was the DPP that blocked the KMT's original plan to grant the president a proactive power to dissolve the legislature in the 1997 constitutional reform.

  Looking back now, winning the 2000 presidential election was just an unexpected development for the party.

  Su notes that the DPP's strategic thinking in 1997 was based on the anticipation that none of the political parties would control more than half of the legislative seats in subsequent elections.

  "No one expected that events would go in exactly the opposite direction. The DPP won the presidency," Su said.

  Tsai says all these ridiculous developments prove that for politicians, the Constitution is no more than a tool to grab power.

  "The Constitution has become a weapon of political struggle. Nobody has considered it to be a standard deserving of respect. It is a tool used by politicians to support specific claims and motives," Tsai says.
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