Lawmakers from the three major parties formed an alliance yesterday to push for an early start of the long-talked-about reform of the Legislative Yuan.
The DPP's Chen Chin-teh (
The lawmakers said many candidates had listed "promoting downsizing of the legislature and putting an end to legislative chaos" as their major campaign promises during last December's elections.
Relations between the ruling and opposition camps have remained tense since the inauguration of the new legislature in February and discussions on reforms have been futile so far.
The lawmakers said they are worried that legislative reforms will still be a pipe dream when their terms end in three years.
Since cutting the number of seats is the least contentious reform proposal, Chen said the new alliance would first focus on forging an inter-party consensus on the issue.
The Constitution stipulates that the legislature should have 225 members. Any change to the number of seats would require constitutional amendments which need the support of all major political parties.
"Given the complex and onerous process of amending the Constitution, ruling and opposition parties should sit down to patiently discuss how to design a more reasonable size, framework or structure for our new legislature," Chen said.
As to how the new legislators would be elected and how constituencies would be readjusted, Chen said those details can be prescribed in a law instead of being put into the Constitution.
Tsai echoed Chen's view, saying that most countries in the world only stipulate the number of parliamentary seats in their constitutions and set out parliamentary electoral systems in separate laws.
Noting that the main purpose of the reforms is not just to scale down the legislature, Tsai said all major parties should rationally and extensively discuss adjusting the number of seats to a reasonable level in order to ensure smooth and efficient operations in the lawmaking body.
The Government Reform Committee unveiled a legislative reform blueprint on Sunday. According to the plan, the number of seats should be cut to from 225 to 150. It also recommends a "single-member district, two vote" system for legislative elections and an extension of the terms of legislators from three to four years.
The plan has drawn criticism from the opposition parties. Even many DPP legislators have said that they disagree with certain aspects of the plan. The DPP legislative caucus and the party headquarters are still integrating their own versions of the reform plan.
The KMT and the PFP legislative caucuses are also drafting their own reform proposals.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS