Lawmakers from the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), Taiwan’s main opposition party, yesterday proposed constitutional and legal changes to create a two-round absolute majority system for electing the president in time for the 2028 election.
KMT Legislator Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強) at a Legislative Yuan news conference said that he, along with KMT lawmakers Yeh Yuan-chih (葉元之), Weng Hsiao-ling (翁曉玲) and Wu Tsung-hsien (吳宗憲), would submit draft constitutional and legal amendments in the new legislative session.
“The proposal has two parts: One is to amend the Constitution to change the presidential election system to an absolute majority two-round system; the other is to revise election laws to resolve the difficulties of minority presidents,” Lo said.
Photo: CNA
Lo was referring to a situation in which one party controls the presidency, but does not command a majority in the legislature.
Such a situation has existed in Taiwan since last year’s election under President William Lai’s (賴清德) Democratic Progressive Party administration.
A two-round presidential vote would allow voters in the first round to “support their favorite candidate without worrying” that strategic voting could “let the most disliked candidate win,” Lo said.
Lo criticized the current plurality system as one that leads to candidates working to split the opponent’s camp and manipulating strategic voting, making voters afraid to support their favorite candidate, which leads to “a very negative election atmosphere.”
The changes could improve the election atmosphere and would strengthen the president’s legitimacy, he said.
Most KMT lawmakers support the reform, Lo said, adding that he has privately exchanged views with Taiwan People’s Party lawmakers and would continue to work to build cross-party consensus.
Weng said that “more than 70 percent of the more than 40 countries with direct presidential elections adopt a two-round system.”
In contrast, the current system lets a president win “without obtaining more than half of the votes,” Weng said.
Although a two-round presidential vote might increase election expenses, it is “worth it” from the perspective of democratic legitimacy and political stability, Wu said.
The reforms would encourage presidential candidates to “move toward the center, compromise and moderate,” and help Taiwan “avoid constant confrontation and division, and move toward harmony and unity,” Yeh said.
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