Civic groups yesterday rallied outside the Legislative Yuan in Taipei — where interparty negotiations over constitutional amendments were taking place — to urge legislators to enact proposals that would lower the legal voting age and the threshold for political parties to secure legislator-at-large seats.
Braving high temperatures, members of the Civil Alliance to Promote Constitutional Reform staged a sit-in in front of the legislature, saying that they would not leave until the results of the negotiations were made public.
Alliance member Chen Hui-ming （陳惠敏） said that there was a general consensus regarding the bills in legislative committee meetings before the negotiations, but that they were bundled with more controversial proposals by the Chinese Nationalist Party （KMT） caucus, such as absentee voting and reinstating the legislature’s power to confirm presidentially appointed premiers.
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
Chen said the KMT’s move was aimed at boosting the party’s political influence at the expense of the public’s constitutional rights. She accused the KMT of force-feeding the public a constitutional reform package benefiting only the party.
During a legislative committee session last week, the KMT caucus agreed to review the bills individually, later backpedaling in a legislative plenary meeting on Monday and threatening to block the bills if they are not packaged with other proposals, Chen said.
This brought the proceedings to a standstill, she said.
She said that a plebiscite on major constitutional amendments is expected to be held alongside the presidential and legislative elections in January next year, underlining the importance of passing the bills.
Other civic groups, led by Citizen’s Congress Watch, launched a demonstration to raise awareness about the negotiations.
Citizen’s Congress Watch executive director Ku Chung-hwa （顧忠華） said that his group would launch what he called a “counter-endorsement” campaign to ask people to use their vote to oust lawmakers who block the passage of the bills.
Accusing legislators of forming a “fake consensus” on the issues and thereby giving people “false hope,” Ku ridiculed the so-called consensus, adding that it was just as “empty” as the so-called “1992 consensus” espoused by President Ma Ying-jeou （馬英九）. The “1992 consensus,” a term that former Mainland Affairs Council chairman Su Chi （蘇起） admitted making up in 2000, refers to a tacit understanding between the KMT and the Chinese government that both sides acknowledge there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means.
Wu Cheng （吳崢）, a student activist in last year’s Sunflower movement, called on Deputy Legislative Speaker Hung Hsiu-chu （洪秀柱） to facilitate legislation on lowering the legal voting age.
He said that Hung, who on Sunday passed public opinion polls conducted by the KMT to run in the party’s presidential primary, has publicly expressed her support for the bill and should therefore turn her words into actions and respond to popular demand.
“If Hung cannot even pass a bill she supports, how does she plan to convince the public that she can lead the nation and implement her policies?” Wu said.
Taiwan Association of University Professors Northern Chapter director Chen Li-fu （塵俐甫） said that, with the exception of Ma, no KMT members have expressed objections to amending the Constitution.
Therefore, if KMT legislators block the proposals, it means that they have decided to side with Ma, he said.
“However, seeing as President Ma has an approval rating of only 9 percent and he is no longer the party chairman, KMT legislators should think carefully about whether they want to be associated with him or serve the public’s interests,” he said.
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