Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Gao Jyh-peng (高志鵬) yesterday proposed changes to the at-large ticket in legislative elections to allow voters to cast preferential votes, so that they, instead of the party, may decide the ranking of candidates on the ballot.
“The current design on the at-large ballot often presents a big problem for political parties when they arrange the ranking of their candidates, and the seats often become bargaining chips for a party’s factions,” Gao told a news conference at the DPP caucus.
“Therefore, I would like to introduce a preferential voting system, so that voters may decide the ranking of each candidate through voting — this would make the electoral system more democratic as we return the power to decide to the people,” he said.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
Gao said that under his proposal, a voter would cast two votes at the polling station — one vote for a particular candidate in the constituency, and another vote for one of the candidates on a party’s at-large list — and the ranking of candidates on the at-large list would be decided according to the number of votes they garner.
He said that the preferential voting system would force political parties to think more about public opinion when nominating their at-large candidates, adding that a system like that is used in 27 countries, including the Netherlands, Belgium and Austria.
Under the current system, a voter also casts two votes — one for a candidate in the electoral district, and another for a particular political party — but it is the political party that decides the ranking of their at-large candidates.
Gao’s proposal drew mixed reactions from his colleagues within the party.
DPP Legislator Huang Wei-che (黃偉哲) said that the system could make lawmakers less “obedient” to the party and actually represent voters’ will in the legislature.
However, DPP Legislator Chuang Jui-hsiung (莊瑞雄) said that the fight for at-large nominations is a battle, and it might be very difficult to convince the party to support such a proposal.
Taiwanese can file complaints with the Tourism Administration to report travel agencies if their activities caused termination of a person’s citizenship, Mainland Affairs Council Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday, after a podcaster highlighted a case in which a person’s citizenship was canceled for receiving a single-use Chinese passport to enter Russia. The council is aware of incidents in which people who signed up through Chinese travel agencies for tours of Russia were told they could obtain Russian visas and fast-track border clearance, Chiu told reporters on the sidelines of an event in Taipei. However, the travel agencies actually applied
New measures aimed at making Taiwan more attractive to foreign professionals came into effect this month, the National Development Council said yesterday. Among the changes, international students at Taiwanese universities would be able to work in Taiwan without a work permit in the two years after they graduate, explainer materials provided by the council said. In addition, foreign nationals who graduated from one of the world’s top 200 universities within the past five years can also apply for a two-year open work permit. Previously, those graduates would have needed to apply for a work permit using point-based criteria or have a Taiwanese company
The Shilin District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday indicted two Taiwanese and issued a wanted notice for Pete Liu (劉作虎), founder of Shenzhen-based smartphone manufacturer OnePlus Technology Co (萬普拉斯科技), for allegedly contravening the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) by poaching 70 engineers in Taiwan. Liu allegedly traveled to Taiwan at the end of 2014 and met with a Taiwanese man surnamed Lin (林) to discuss establishing a mobile software research and development (R&D) team in Taiwan, prosecutors said. Without approval from the government, Lin, following Liu’s instructions, recruited more than 70 software
Taiwanese singer Jay Chou (周杰倫) plans to take to the courts of the Australian Open for the first time as a competitor in the high-stakes 1 Point Slam. The Australian Open yesterday afternoon announced the news on its official Instagram account, welcoming Chou — who celebrates his 47th birthday on Sunday — to the star-studded lineup of the tournament’s signature warm-up event. “From being the King of Mandarin Pop filling stadiums with his music to being Kato from The Green Hornet and now shifting focus to being a dedicated tennis player — welcome @jaychou to the 1 Point Slam and #AusOpen,” the
RSS