Constitutional proposal released

MORE TWEAKING: A private alliance put forward its ideas for improving the nation's top document, offering two versions for a presidential and a parliamentary system
By Ko Shu-ling
STAFF REPORTER
Wednesday, Apr 26, 2006,Page 3


Houng Yu-houng, center, convener of the Constitutional Reform Alliance, yesterday unveils the alliance's first proposed constitutional amendments, which would give the public the ability to initiate constitutional revisions and adopt a two-house legislative system at a press conference named ``A Love Letter to Our Country.''
PHOTO: LIU HSIN-DE, TAIPEI TIMES

A private constitutional reengineering group yesterday unveiled its first version of proposed constitutional amendments, which would give the public the ability to initiate future constitutional revisions and adopt a two-house legislative system.

Currently, only the legislature or the president can initiate constitutional revisions.

The group did not make a recommendation on whether Taiwan should have a presidential or parliamentary system, and avoided the issues of the national title, flag and anthem.

Houng Yu-houng (洪裕宏), the convener of the Constitutional Reform Alliance, said that the proposed version is not final, and that the alliance welcomes comments from the public.

In a bid to avoid inciting ideological controversy, Houng said the version retains a definition of territorial boundaries that is somewhat obscure as "the area in which the Constitution has power."

The Constitution defines the nation's territory as that within "existing national boundaries" and an interpretation by the Council of Grand Justices in 1993 failed to more precisely define the politically sensitive issue.

The alliance's draft stipulates that constitutional revisions can be introduced by the legislative branch or the people, and that the Constitution can be amended partially or entirely.

The alliance also proposed to adopt a bicameral legislative system consisting of the Senate and House of Representatives, similar to the US system.

The House of Representatives would have 150 to 200 seats and the Senate about 50 seats.

Members of the House of Representatives would be elected from special municipalities, counties, and cities by popular vote and would serve four-year terms. Members would also include Aboriginal representatives. At-large members would be allocated in proportion to the percentage of votes each party garners.

Member of the Senate would be elected from representatives of special municipalities, counties, cities and Aboriginal areas to serve four-year terms. Senators would not be elected by popular vote but by their councils, or by Aboriginal tribes for Aboriginal representatives.

The proposal did not recommend whether the government should be a presidential or parliamentary system, because alliance members failed to see eye to eye on the issue. Instead, the alliance made two alternate proposals for either type of government.

Under its proposal for a parliamentary system, the president would be the chief of state and serve a six-year term. The president would be elected by a college of representatives composed of the Senate, House of Representatives and councilors of special municipalities, counties and cities.

The Senate leader would take over the presidency if the president could not perform his or her duties. If the Senate leader were incapacitated, the head of the House of Representatives would be the next person in line to assume power.

The premier would be the head of the government and be elected by the House of Representatives and appointed by the president. The vice premier and Cabinet officials would be recommended by the premier and appointed by the president.

Under the alliance's proposal for a presidential system, the president would be the chief of state and head of the government.

The president and vice president would be elected by popular vote and serve four-year terms.

The vice president would assume the office of the presidency if the president was not able to perform his or her duties or the office was vacant. If both the president and vice president were not able to carry out their duties or their offices were vacant, the parliament would make a law to regulate who should take over the helm. The Cabinet would be appointed by the president with the approval of parliament.

Presidential Office Secretary-General Mark Chen (陳唐山) said yesterday that the Presidential Office welcomed the proposal and was open to a second phase of constitutional reform. But he stressed that such reforms will only be successful if it is done through a bottom-up process that is dominated by the public.

"Constitutional reform should not be a zero-sum game among political parties nor become a power struggle between the pan-blue and pan-green camps," he said. "As a role model for emerging democracies, we don't have any reason to be inactive when most countries are aggressively pushing constitutional re-engineering projects."

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