Given the Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) landslide victory in Saturday's legislative poll, the public needs to form a sound mechanism of oversight to check the power of the party within the legislature, political analysts and civil societies said yesterday.
The KMT secured an overwhelming majority in the first legislative poll under the new "single district, two-vote system."
It won 57 of the 73 district seats, four out of the six Aboriginal seats and 20 of the 34 legislator-at-large seats.
The victory means that the KMT, along with the three seats secured by the Non-Partisan Solidarity Union (NPSU) -- which is on friendly terms with the KMT -- and one seat by the People First Party (PFP), now occupies three quarters of the legislature's 113 seats, while the DPP, which previously accounted for 89 of the former 217-seat legislature, only managed to win 27 this time.
The absolute majority the KMT enjoys will give it the power to initiate a proposal and pass a resolution to impeach the president.
With its two-thirds majority, it can also recall the president.
With the help of NPSU and PFP legislators, it has the authority to put constitutional amendments to a referendum.
The victory also means that the pan-blue camp could constitute a majority of each of the legislature's eight standing committees.
The number of committees was reduced from 13 to eight last year in preparation for the halving of seats, with each lawmaker only getting to participate in one committee. Each committee should consist of nine to 15 members.
The number of caucuses will decrease from five to three, with the three NPSU legislators also able to organize one caucus.
Ho Tsung-hsun (
"Not only did the so-called `third force' disappear [after the poll] but we also lack a second largest force [in the legislature]," Ho said.
Ho said it may be "exaggerated" to compare the results to the monopoly the KMT enjoyed in the 1990s, but the party now does have the power to determine the fate of all bills.
"We are worried that the KMT will propose bills to benefit itself between March 22 [the presidential poll] and May 20 [presidential inauguration]," he said.
George Tsai (
Tsai told the Taipei Times that even though there remained three caucuses -- the KMT, the DPP and the NPSU -- in the Legislative Yuan, he did not think there would be sufficient checks and balances between them.
Taipei University political analyst Herman Chiang (江岷欽) described the NPSU caucus as a group that can only "remind" rather than "constrain" the KMT, given the wide gap between their strength.
"The NPSU can best serve as a brake" when the KMT is pushing its own agenda in the legislature, Chiang said.
He said that the NPSU would only be able to block KMT proposals during the legislature's four-month cross-party negotiation period for controversial bills.
He said that now that it enjoys an absolute majority the KMT was likely to put bills it favors to a vote once the negotiation period is over.
However, he said the NPSU can still play a key role in the legislature if it can offer a different voice from the KMT and the DPP.
Ho said he was willing to believe in the KMT's resolution to push reform, but that Citizen Watch would still seek promises by the KMT and the DPP to make the legislature more "transparent" ahead of the presidential election.
This includes making the legislature's video-on-demand system -- which records the proceedings of all open-door committee meetings -- available to the public, he said.
Although the legislature provides the full archive of the recordings, the system can only be accessed within the network of the Legislative Yuan.
Tsai, on the other hand, looked to the media and academics for supervision of the KMT.
"Expecting the KMT to exercise self-restraint would be a little bit like fishing in the air," Tsai said.
‘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 magnitude 4.9 earthquake struck off Tainan at 11:47am today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 32.3km northeast of Tainan City Hall at a depth of 7.3km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Tainan and Chiayi County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Chiayi City and County, and Yunlin County, while it was measured as 2 in Kaohsiung, Nantou County, Changhua County, Taitung County and offshore Penghu County, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated