Legislative Yuan 立法院 Lìfǎ Yuàn | |
|---|---|
| 9th Legislative Yuan | |
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| Type | |
| Type | |
| Leadership | |
Secretary-General | |
| Structure | |
| Seats | 113 (List) |
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Political groups | ■ DPP (68) ■ KMT (35) ■ NPP (5) ■ PFP (3) ■ NPSU (1) ■ Independent (1) |
| Elections | |
Last election | 16 January 2016 |
| Meeting place | |
_Legislative_Yuan_of_the_Republic_of_China_(chamber,_exterior).jpg) | |
| The Legislative Yuan in Taipei | |
| Website | |
| www.ly.gov.tw (in English) | |
| Taiwantaffy/Legislative Yuan | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Chinese | 立法院 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Literal meaning | Law-establishing court | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Taiwan portal |
The Legislative Yuan (Chinese: 立法院; pinyin: Lìfǎ Yuàn) is Taiwan's highest legislative body. It is a unicameral body with 113 members, responsible for – among other things – law making, declarations of war and peace, constitutional amendments, and approval of some presidential appointees. It is also able to impeach the president. Since the abolition of the National Assembly in 2005 the Legislative Yuan has often been referred to colloquially as Taiwan's "parliament" (Chinese: 國會; pinyin: Guóhuì). All members of the Legislative Yuan are directly elected by the Taiwanese people once every four years.
First convened in 1928 in Nanjing, China as an appointed chamber, the Legislative Yuan moved to Taiwan in 1949 after the Chinese Nationalists (Kuomintang) lost the Chinese civil war. As the government in Taipei still claimed to be the rightful rulers of China, the legislators who came over to Taiwan in 1949 were frozen in place, ostensibly until the Kuomintang could retake China and new elections could be held. In 1992 reforms were carried out to retire the "immortal legislators" and the Legislative Yuan became a fully elected body. In 2001 the Kuomintang lost its absolute majority for the first time, though it remained in power in coalition with other pan-blue unificationist parties. In the 2016 elections the Democratic Progressive Party gained a majority of seats, ending 92 years of Kuomintang control of the organization.
History
editSun Yat-sen, the revolutionary leader who shaped the political theory of the early Republic of China, outlined his proposal of five Yuan (loosely translated as "courts") which would form the five administrative branches of government. The Legislative Yuan was designated as "the highest legislative organization entitled to undertake budget examinations, war declaration, peacemaking, treaties, and other foreign affairs."[1]
Nanjing Legislative Yuan
editThe first Legislative Yuan was established in Nanjing, China, in 1928. The 49 members of the first session were appointed by the Kuomintang leadership.[1]
Background in pre-1945 Taiwan
editThe Japanese colonial era in Taiwan saw limited elections introduced in response to the Home Rule movement and the need to gain support from Taiwanese people on the eve of war.[2] The main impact of this early electoral system on the Republic of China government, which took over Taiwan in 1945, was the adoption of the Japanese model of single non-transferrable voting in multi-member constituencies (SVMM).[3]
Administrative orders stipulated one vote per elector, with no transfers among candidates. Electoral districts followed administrative boundaries. To equalise representation, the number of members elected from each district varied according to district population. The winners in these multi-member races were those who received the largest number of votes, until all the district's seats were filled.
— Shelley Rigger, Politics in Taiwan[3]
This SVMM system was the predominant way legislators were elected until the reforms which took effect in 2008. SVMM is still the system used to select legislators in the two nationwide Aboriginal districts.
The Immortal Legislature (1950–1992)
editThe Kuomintang used limited elections to bolster its internal and international legitimacy as the government of "Free China".[4] This included elections at the local level throughout Taiwan for positions such as municipal and township representatives.[5] However, as the Legislative Yuan was intended to represent all of China (most of which was under communist control from 1949) the KMT leadership took the decision to freeze the existing legislators in place until the "recovery of the mainland",[6] a decision confirmed by the Council of Grand Justices in 1954.[7] Even when it became obvious that the chances of ousting the communists from Beijing were slim to none, the Kuomintang maintained the position that it, and not the Chinese Communist Party, represented the legitimate government of China, and therefore the Legislative Yuan remained the legislature for all of China.[6] This fiction also had the advantage for the KMT of keeping them in power.[6] If a legislator died, he or she was replaced by the runner-up in the 1948 election, then the third-placed candidate, and so on.[7]
Eventually the march of time meant that another source had to be found to supplement the dwindling numbers of legislators elected in 1948. Consequently in 1969 the first supplementary election was held, with eleven new legislators elected, eight from the Kuomintang and three independents.[8] Among the three independents was Kuo Kuo-chi, a fierce critic of the regime who had been imprisoned after the 228 massacre.[9] During the election campaign the KMT also provided police protection to Huang Hsin-chieh, another independent, as the government did not want the blame if he was attacked on account of his strident anti-government rhetoric.[9] These new legislators were elected for indefinite terms, putting them on the same footing as their 1948 colleagues.[8] Subsequent supplementary elections starting in 1972 limited the newly elected legislators to three-year terms, while maintaining the indefinite terms of the 1948 and 1969 cohorts.[8] 36 new legislators were elected in 1972, and 29 in 1975.[8]
The 1978 supplementary elections were postponed after the United States switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing just days before the election.[10] This postponement was a contributing factor in the Kaohsiung incident, an anti-government protest in 1979 that produced a government crackdown and long prison sentences for the leaders. When the election finally took place, in 1980, the circumstances had changed quite considerably from earlier elections. The Central Election Commission was created, and had relative independence.[10] While opposition parties were still outlawed, a loose coalition of non-KMT candidates called the Tangwai was allowed to coordinate campaign activities without much interference from the KMT, unlike in previous elections.[10] 1980 also marked the first time the KMT had consulted with opposition figures about electoral rules.[10] Lastly, the number of supplementary legislators, 76, was much larger than in previous elections, giving these new legislators a greater say in the chamber.[10] The results of the 1980 election saw an overwhelming majority of KMT candidates elected, but opposition figures associated with those imprisoned after the Kaohsiung Incident also had electoral success.[11] While there weren't enough Tangwai legislators to propose or block legislation, they were able to "ask for explanations" (Chinese: 質詢; pinyin: zhìxún) from cabinet ministers, giving them an unparalleled platform to call for things like the lifting of martial law, and to criticize the excesses both of the government and of related institutions like the secret police (Taiwan Garrison Command).[12] Legislators had immunity from prosecution for otherwise seditious speech, a protection the Kuomintang mostly honoured.[13]
The supplementary elections of 1983 saw Tangwai candidates win a smaller percentage of seats than their vote share would suggest, a problem caused by insufficient coordination between Tangwai candidates.[14] To enhance this cooperation and skirt around the ban on forming new parties, the Tangwai Research Association for Public Policy (TRAPP) was created, essentially performing many of the functions of a political party.[14] Despite threatening language from government figures, the TRAPP was allowed to continue in existence, and president Chiang Ching-kuo initiated negotiations with the organization – the first time the KMT had openly held discussions with opposition groups.[14]
In 1986 the newly-formed Democratic Progressive Party, founded by leading members of the Tangwai movement, contested the Legislative Yuan elections for the first time.[15] Martial law was still in place, and the creation of new parties was illegal, so the DPP's candidates were listed as "independents" on the ballot papers. However, president Chiang Ching-kuo, with the encouragement of liberal elements within the upper echelons of the KMT, elected not to crack down on the new party. The DPP openly campaigned in the election, signalling the end of the one-party era in Taiwan.[15]
Despite these supplementary elections, the number of legislators elected in 1948 meant that the Kuomintang enjoyed an unassailable majority in the legislature. Consequently legislators during this period had very little power, with the role of the legislature limited to rubber-stamping legislation initiated by the KMT's Central Standing Committee.[16]
Democratic transition (1990s)
editAfter the lifting of martial law, pressure started building to retire the "senior legislators" and move to a fully elected chamber. DPP and independent legislators were joined in this movement by KMT legislators from the "mainstream faction" (Chinese: 主流派; pinyin: zhǔliú pài; i.e. those allied with president Lee Teng-hui), while the senior legislators and hardline elements of the KMT were the "non-mainstream faction" (Chinese: 非主流派; pinyin: fēi zhǔliú pài).
Frank Hsieh, at the time a DPP legislator, demanded that five legislators – all born in the Qing dynasty (i.e. pre-1911) and over 90 years old – retire immediately. A few days later he spray-painted a large number "one" on the desk of the first he thought should go.[17]
The 1992 Legislative Yuan contest finally saw the retirement of the old legislators-for-life, and all 161 seats in the new legislature were open for election.[18] 119 of these legislators were elected via the SVMM system, with geographical constituencies electing between 1 and 16 legislators each, depending on population.[18] Six seats were reserved for Aboriginal voters, and 36 were elected via proportional representation depending on the overall party vote.[18] The 1992 elections were the first that were "really representative of opinion" in Taiwan.[19]
2005 reform package
editThe two major parties in the legislature, the DPP and the KMT, both had reasons to want to abandon the multi-member system in use until 2004. Both parties were concerned about smaller parties on their flanks, i.e. the New Party and People First Party for the Kuomintang, and the Taiwan Solidarity Union for the Democratic Progressive Party. The KMT believed that the multi-member system no longer served its needs because the previously disorganised opposition forces it had faced in the late 1980s and early 1990s were increasingly professional and effective, forcing the KMT into coalition from 2001.[20] The DPP's performance under the multi-member system had lagged behind their share of the vote in presidential elections, leading them to believe than single-member districts would give them a better chance of a majority.[21]
After years of protests and negotiations, a deal was agreed between the KMT and DPP in 2005 to abolish the National Assembly and restructure the Legislative Yuan.[22] The function of the National Assembly (approving constitutional changes) was passed to the Legislative Yuan,[22] and the number of seats in the Legislative Yuan from 2008 was cut from 225 to 113, the majority of which were to be elected through single member districts (SMD).[20] Criticism of the post-2005 format of the Legislative Yuan maintains that, whatever the failings of the old SVMM system, it was at least fairly proportional, with discrepancies between percentage of the vote and percentage of seats being small.[23] The SMD system used from 2008 meant the Legislative Yuan became "highly disproportional" and favoured the two largest parties.[23] Notwithstanding the fact that DPP protests and complaints were the catalyst for change, according to one prominent scholar the new system "appear[ed] to benefit the KMT".[24]
Legislative Yuan building
edit_Legislative_Yuan_of_the_Republic_of_China_(chamber,_interior).jpg)
The Legislative Yuan is currently housed in the former Taihoku Prefectural Second Girls’ High School, built in 1927 during the Japanese era.[25] The building is owned by Taipei City government, and the legislature pays NT$52 million a year in rent (2016 figures).[25] There have been repeated discussions of moving the legislature to a purpose-built complex, and various politicians have suggested moving it out of Taipei altogether.[25]
Current electoral rules
editSince 2008 the Legislative Yuan has consisted of 113 members, elected in three different ways. 73 legislators are elected from single member constituencies across the country, with the winner of each constituency election being the candidate who gains a plurality of the vote (also known as a first past the post system). Each county, provincial city and direct-controlled municipality is represented by at least one legislator, and those with larger populations are split into multiple constituencies. Registered Aboriginal voters do not vote in any of the 73 constituencies; instead they elect a total of 6 legislators from two island-wide indigenous constituencies – voters and candidates must both be a registered member of a Taiwanese aboriginal tribe. The aboriginal constituencies were created to ensure a high level of representation for indigenous people in the Legislative Yuan. The remaining 34 legislators are chosen by a system of proportional representation based on a party list ballot. Parties that meet a qualifying threshold of 5% of the total valid party list ballots cast are awarded a proportion of the 34 seats.
Current composition
edit
The election of 2016 resulted in an overall majority for the Democratic Progressive Party and marked the first time the Kuomintang lost power in the Legislative Yuan. In terms of the pan-green/pan-blue divide in Taiwanese politics, the governing Democratic Progressive Party has natural allies in the New Power Party and the single independent legislator, giving the pan-greens a total of 74 seats, 11 short of a supermajority. The pan-blue side is made up of the remaining legislators, from the Kuomintang, People First Party, and Non-Partisan Solidarity Union, with 39 seats in total. The 2016 cohort is both the youngest ever, with an average age just under 50, and also has the highest percentage of women, at 38 percent.[26]
Coupled with the election of Tsai Ing-wen as president, also in 2016, this meant that for the first time the DPP held both the presidency and the legislature, giving the DPP president the chance to implement her agenda. The only previous DPP president, Chen Shui-bian, was frequently stymied by the legislature, with bills he and the Executive Yuan introduced being opposed by the Kuomintang-led Legislative Yuan.
The current president of the Legislative Yuan (also known as the Speaker), elected with 74 votes from the DPP and NPP caucuses, is Su Chia-chyuan. His election was seen as a sign that the DPP was making a break from "politics as usual", with the other prominent candidate, Ker Chien-ming, having a reputation as being too close to certain KMT figures. Su's deputy Tsai Chi-chang was also elected with the same number of votes. Su appointed former legislator Lin Chih-chia, of the Taiwan Solidarity Union, as Secretary-General of the Legislative Yuan.
| Seat composition diagram | Party | Caucus | Seats | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Constituency | Aboriginal | Party list | Total | ||||
|
| |||||||
| Democratic Progressive Party | DPP | 49 | 1 | 18 | 68 | ||
| Independent | 1 | - | - | 1 | |||
| Kuomintang | KMT | 20 | 4 | 11 | 35 | ||
| New Power Party | NPP | 3 | - | 2 | 5 | ||
| People First Party | PFP | - | - | 3 | 3 | ||
| Non-Partisan Solidarity Union | - | 1 | - | 1 | |||
| Seat totals | 73 | 6 | 34 | 113 | |||
Historical composition
editFrom the advent of the first fully democratic Legislative Yuan elections in 1992, the Kuomintang continued as the governing party until 2016. From 2001–2008 the Kuomintang needed to enter a coalition with other pan-blue parties, including the People First Party and the New Party. While there have been occasional by-elections for vacated seats and changes of affiliation for individual legislators, as of 2016 none of these meant a loss of power for a governing party or coalition.
The first major test for the Kuomintang came in the 1995 elections. In 1991 a group of hardline unificationist legislators from the party formed a faction called the New KMT Alliance (NKA).[27] At the time the independence clause in the DPP constitution was still technically illegal, and the NKA legislators wanted the Kuomintang leadership to adopt a tougher line opposing this independence-seeking stance.[27] When the NKA faction felt the response from the KMT leadership was lacking, they left to set up the New Party in 1993. When the New Party won 21 seats in the 1995 election, the KMT's narrow majority meant that they had to cooperate with opposition parties on occasions when they couldn't keep all of their own legislators in line.[27]
Proposals for reform
editThe uneven population size of constituencies means that Lienchiang County (Matsu) – with an electorate of 9,921 – has the same representation in the Legislative Yuan as Hsinchu County, which had 396,492 eligible voters in 2016. Shortly after the 9th Legislative Yuan was convened, speaker Su Chia-chyuan advocated reforms including a petition process for the general public to propose bills and the possibility of public broadcasts of Legislative Yuan sessions.[28]
References
edit- ^ a b Bellows (2003), p. 5.
- ^ Rigger (1999), pp. 35–36.
- ^ a b Rigger (1999), p. 36.
- ^ Rigger (1999), p. 16.
- ^ Rigger (1999), p. 20.
- ^ a b c Wachman (1994), p. 134.
- ^ a b Roy (2003), p. 85.
- ^ a b c d Rigger (1999), p. 110.
- ^ a b Roy (2003), p. 86.
- ^ a b c d e Rigger (1999), p. 118.
- ^ Rigger (1999), p. 119.
- ^ Chao & Myers (1998), pp. 86–87.
- ^ Roy (2003), p. 160.
- ^ a b c Roy (2003), p. 170.
- ^ a b Rigger (1999), p. 127.
- ^ Rigger (1999), pp. 62–63.
- ^ Wachman (1994), p. 176.
- ^ a b c Fell (2012), p. 61.
- ^ Maguire (1998), p. 91.
- ^ a b Chi (2014), p. 2.
- ^ Chi (2014), p. 1.
- ^ a b Lo (2006), p. 9.
- ^ a b Fell (2012), p. 66.
- ^ Fell (2012), p. 67.
- ^ a b c Legislative Yuan should be heritage site: expert, Taipei Times
- ^ A fresh start for the Legislative Yuan?, China Post, 2016-02-02
- ^ a b c Rigger (1999), p. 31.
- ^ Su eyes reform measures for ROC Legislative Yuan, Taiwan Today
Bibliography
edit- Bellows, Thomas J. (2003), "The Republic of China Legislative Yuan: A Study in Transition", Maryland Series in Contemporary Asian Studies, 4, University of Maryland
- Chao, Linda; Myers, Ramon H. (1998), The First Chinese Democracy, Johns Hopkins
- Chi, Eunju (2014), Two-party contests and the politics of electoral reform: the case of Taiwan (PDF), London School of Economics
- Chin, Ko-lin (2003), Heijin: Organised Crime, Business, and Politics in Taiwan, Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, ISBN 0765612208
- Copper, John F. (2007), A Historical Dictionary of Taiwan (Republic of China) (2nd ed.), Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, ISBN 9780810856004
- Fell, Dafydd (2012), Government and Politics in Taiwan, Routledge, ISBN 978-0415575423
- Lee, Wei-chin; Wang, T.Y., eds. (2003), Sayonara to the Lee Teng-hui Era: Politics in Taiwan, 1988–2000, Lanham, MD: University Press of America, ISBN 0761825894
- Lo, Chang-fa (2006), The Legal Culture and System of Taiwan, Kluwer Law International, ISBN 978-9041125255
- Maguire, Keith (1998), The Rise of Modern Taiwan, Dartmouth, ISBN 978-1855218475
- Rigger, Shelley (1999), Politics in Taiwan: Voting for Democracy, Routledge, ISBN 0415172098
- Roy, Denny (2003), Taiwan: A Political History, Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, ISBN 0801488052
- Tien, Hung-mao (1989), The Great Transition: Political and Social Change in the Republic of China, Hoover Institution Press, ISBN 9576381576
- Tien, Hung-mao, ed. (1996), Taiwan's Electoral Politics and Democratic Transition: Riding the Third Wave, Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, ISBN 1563246716
- Wachman, Alan M. (1994), Taiwan: National Identity and Democratization, Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, ISBN 1563243997