The legislature yesterday adopted revised internal rules that define the minimum criteria a caucus must meet in order for it to be eligible to participate in cross-party negotiations.
Following the December election, a caucus must either have at least eight members or win at least five percent of the popular vote.
This basic reform will make it slightly more difficult for small parties and independent lawmakers to participate in cross-party talks where most partisan disputes over the legislative agenda and the content of bills are settled.
However, the measure has drawn fire from all parties with proponents expressing disappointment at its lack of teeth and critics calling it a product of the majority's whim.
"The change is symbolic at most," DPP legislative leader Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯) told reporters. "But we had no choice but to give our approval to prevent a few opposition colleagues from boycotting WTO-related bills."
Currently it takes only five legislators to form a caucus, with no reference to the number of election ballots garnered. All caucuses may send representatives to cross-party negotiations.
All of the major parties have made internal legislative reform a top priority before the legislative recess prior to the Dec. 1 election.
"We had hoped to raise the threshold to 12 or 15 but had to compromise at eight due to protests from the New Party," Tsai added.
Fellow lawmaker Shen Fu-hsiung (沈富雄) echoed this frustration.
"It is a shame the New Party thwarted the reform effort for self-serving reasons," Shen said. "The voters should vote down the party's candidates in the upcoming elections." With exactly eight members in the legislature, the tiny New Party has not masked its objections to the proposed reform.
New Party legislative leader Levi Ying (營志宏) threatened earlier in the day to stall future legislation if other parties insisted on raising the threshold to 12 or more.
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