Taiwan Today

Chinese living on the mainland have not been able to express themselves in a free election since the Communist usurpation of 1949. The single-ticket, rubber-stamp elections of other Communist lands are no longer permitted by the Peiping regime. The last "people's congress" was chosen in 1964 and hasn't met since 1965, al­though the nominal term is four years and sessions are supposed to be held annually. The Maoists are afraid even of carefully managed elections.

In the province of Taiwan, where the Republic of China holds freedom and democratic rule in trust for the 700 million people of the mainland, local and provincial elections have been the politi­cal way of life since the 1945 liberation of the island from Japan. The Japanese had not allowed any expressions of preference at the ballot box, and the people were totally lacking in democratic experience. Nevertheless, local choice of repre­sentatives was initiated from the beginning. The scope of elections came to include the Provincial Assembly, county magistrates and city mayors, town and village chiefs, and councils of various levels. Only two high positions - the governor of Taiwan and the mayor of Taipei - are appointive.

Parliamentarians of the national level were elected to the National Assembly, Legislative Yuan and Control Yuan on the mainland in the late 1940s. Substantial numbers of these representa­tives escaped the Communists and reached Taiwan. All three bodies have continued to function in the Taiwan-Penghu-Kinmen-Matsu environment. Additional elections were eschewed at first because of the difficulty of adding membership to organs which represented the whole of the mainland. Terms of original members were extended by emergency amendment of the Constitution.

In 1969, national level by-elections were under­ taken to fill Taiwan vacancies and reflect the province's population growth. Twenty-eight parlia­mentarians were added to the national roster. Their terms are of indefinite duration; that is, they will serve until the return to the mainland make all-China elections possible once again.

The government and the National Assembly were aware of the necessity of providing additional new blood to reduce the average age of parlia­mentarians, combat the decimation of time and give further representation to the 85 per cent of the people born in the province of Taiwan at a time when the island is temporarily cut off from the mainland. Further emergency amendments to the Constitution adopted early in 1972 made this possible. This time the terms will be those normal­ly prescribed: three years for members of the Legislative Yuan and six years for members of the National Assembly and Control Yuan. Those elected earlier will still hold their indefinite tenure.

Preparations for the national election, which was combined with the selection of a new Provin­cial Assembly and city and county presiding of­ficers, were carried out over a period of several months, although the campaign as such lasted only two weeks. Government and political parties were determined to have an election without corruption and with maximum freedom for both candidates and voters. This was not only to be in the democratic service of the Republic of China and the province of Taiwan, but also to provide for the world a contrast between a China which is free in action as well as word and a mainland regime which dares not risk either vote or breath of criti­cism.

On December 23, more than 70 per cent of the voters of Taiwan province (excluding Taipei city) and nearly 57 per cent of the voters of Taipei went to the polls to choose a total of 182 national, provincial and local representatives. On the offshore islands of Kinmen and Matsu, within sight and sound of the mainland, the voting percentages exceeded 90 per cent. Those who are closest to slavery apparently know best the mean­ing of freedom. The voter turnout showed in­creased interest in democratic participation. For the 1969 by-elections, the Taiwan vote was 59 per cent and that for Taipei 43 per cent.

Not a single serious case of election irregularities arose despite complicated voting procedures in which some electors cast four separate ballots. The only challenge of consequence was one from a loser who complained that the candidate elected was lacking in prescribed educational qualifica­tions. When the last ballot had been counted, the Republic of China had 53 new National Assemblymen and 36 additional Legislative Yuan members for a total of 89. Another 15 legislators subsequently were named from overseas areas together with 5 new Control Yuan members. Ten more Controllers will be elected by the Taiwan Provincial Assembly and Taipei City Council in February. At lower levels, voters chose a Provin­cial Assembly of 73 members, 16 county magis­trates and 4 city mayors.

The new national blood increased membership of the National Assembly to 1,428, the Legislative Yuan to 461 and the Control Yuan to 77. Age levels were reduced. The average age of those elected to the National Assembly was 45 and that for the Legislative Yuan 47. The parliamentary average exceeded 65 before the elections. One new member of the Legislative Yuan is only 25 and there is a 23-year-old member of the Provincial Assembly, where the average age was cut to 43.8 years.

Accent was on education as well as youth. Of the 182 elected at all levels, 115 are college gradu­ates. Ten have doctor's degrees and 8 have earned the master's accolade. The Legislative Yuan will have six new doctorates and the National Assembly four. Election regulations require that a candidate be a high school graduate or have experience in lieu of formal education. Only one of the elected candidates had only a primary school education.

The Kuomintang (Nationalist Party) elected 97 per cent of its candidates. No KMT members were entered in some districts. All of the 16 county magistrates and 4 county mayors are KMT members. The party took 58 of the 73 Provincial Assembly seats, 43 of the 53 new National Assembly seats and 30 of the 36 new Legislative Yuan seats. The Young China Party elected two legislators. The remaining 29 are independents. Representation for the island-born majority of the population was sharply increased. Of the 182 elected, 164 are natives of Taiwan.

Campaigning was brisk but largely devoid of name-calling or other excesses. Election regulations proscribe criticism of other candidates. Campaign costs are borne by the government, except where two-thirds of the candidates in a district agree to pay stipulated additional expenses from their own pockets. This rule assures that the poor candidate will have a fair chance against rich rivals. Appeals to voters centered around speechmaking, broad­casts from sound trucks and leaflets. There were a few newspaper advertisements but no use of expensive television time.

Some of the races had unexpected outcomes, partly because voters cast a ballot for only one candidate no matter how many were to be elected in a district. In the Taipei Legislative Yuan con­test, Miss Chou Wen-chi, a businesswoman, was not supposed to have any chance against Miss Shu Tze-kuan, a member of the Taipei City Council and zealous family planning advocate. Miss Chou's campaign manager admitted as much.

Being an underdog only made Miss Chou cam­paign the harder. She walked her district to visit low income families, stall keepers and small merchants. Familiar with business problems, she based her platform on economic realities rather than intellectualism. She urged government as­sistance to small enterprises, expansion of job opportunities, simplification of tax reporting, equity in tax assessments and increased social welfare benefits.

Miss Shu gained her City Council seat in 1969 after expulsion by the Kuomintang for her ex­tremes of criticism. She won attention with her dedication to control of the population explosion. Sympathy votes probably helped her in 1969, but in 1972 the shoe was on the other foot. Voters, some of whom may have felt she was sure to be elected anyway, turned their sympathy to Miss Chou, who won a seat with 71,156 votes. Miss Shu received only 18,282.

Miss Chiu Pi-chih, just 25 years old, was another upset winner in a National Assembly contest. Only one seat was at stake in Taipei county and Miss Chiu was up against the Hsinchuang township magistrate, Chen Chien-pang, and three other male candidates. Chen was a strong favorite. Running as an independent, Miss Chiu capitalized on her ap­pearances in a television song competition and became a public figure. She wore white for all her public speaking appearances. This was to demonstrate her lack of affiliations and obligations in the world of politics. "I am as white as a new piece of paper," she said. Miss Chiu won with 74,277 votes.

One interesting contest pitted perfume against gas, so to speak. The contenders were Miss Chou Wen-chi, who employs more than 70 persons in her cosmetics plant, and Ting She-chen, the vice president of the Greater Taipei Gas Company. Both are Kuomintang members but Miss Chou emerged the victor by more than 10,000 votes. One reason may have been Ting's connection with the gas company, which has been involved in a dispute with the Taipei City Council over the price of piped fuel.

The youngest winner was 23-year-old Miss Chiao Hsiu-wa of Fukien, who ran for the Provin­cial Assembly as an independent. She defeated two men and another woman with her oratorical skills and the support of her father, Chiao San­-piao, a member of the Kaohsiung City Council.

Twenty-five of the 182 elected candidates are from the distaff side. Misses Chiao, Chou and Chiu all won by votes larger than those required for the minimum quota of feminine representation in parliamentary bodies. Women have become increasingly active members of free Chinese parlia­mentary bodies during the Taiwan era.

Lee Chih-pen, 40, of Kweichow, received more than 105,000 votes to lead Taipei candidates running for the Legislative Yuan. An attorney, he holds a doctorate from the University of California. Second ranking at more than 83,000 votes was Kang Ning-hsiang, a 34-year-old native of Taipei and member of the Taipei City Council. An independent, Kang supported an increase in social welfare programs. He also advocated increased Taiwanese representation among the bureaucrats of the Provincial Government. Rival candidates noted that more than half of some 50,000 persons working for the Provincial Govern­ment are natives of the province.

The General Office of Elections formally an­nounced election of the 182 representatives, who were to be certified January 20 and assume office February 1. Additional Control Yuan members will be elected February 15 and take office March 1.

Election of additional members at the national level was made possible by constitutional amend­ment of the Temporary Provisions Effective During the Period of Communist Rebellion at the ninth plenary meeting of the fifth session of the National Assembly March 17, 1972. The amendment divided Article 5 of the Temporary Provisions into two separate articles (Nos. 5 and 6) and raised the total number of articles from 10 to 11. The text of new articles 5 and 6 said:

"5. To meet the requirements of national mobilization and the suppression of the Communist rebellion, the President may make adjustments in the administrative and personnel organs of the Central Government, as well as their organizations.

"6. During the period of national mobilization and the suppression of Communist rebellion, the President may, in accordance with the following stipulations, initiate and promulgate for enforce­ment regulations providing for elections to strengthen elective offices at the Central Govern­ment level without being subject to the restrictions prescribed in Article 26, Article 64 or Article 91 of the Constitution.

"(1) In free areas, additional numbers of representatives may be elected to all elective offices at the Central Government level by elections to be held at established times. The President may initiate regulations for the selection of mem­bers of the Legislative Yuan and the Control Yuan who were to have been elected from among Chi­nese nationals residing overseas but whose election could not be carried out because of the actual situation.

"(2) Representatives to the first elective of­fices at the Central Government level were elected by popular vote throughout the nation. These representatives, as well as those representatives who were elected later to fill vacancies or to pro­vide additional representation, therefore shall con­tinue to carry out their functions in accordance with law.

"As soon as the Chinese mainland is recovered, elections shall be held one by one as areas are recovered.

"(3) Representatives additionally elected to the elective offices at the Central Government level shall carry out the same functions as those elected previously. The new delegates to the National Assembly elected for additional representation shall stand for re-election every six years; those of the Legislative Yuan, every three years; and those of the Control Yuan, every six years."

Regulations Governing the Election of Additional Members to Elective Offices on the Central Government Level in the Free Districts During the Period of Mobilization Against Communist Rebellion were promulgated by the President June 29. The most difficult problem was deciding the number of new members to be chosen.

The government's explanation declared: "To meet the need for strengthening all elective offices at the Central Government level, it is necessary to make an appropriate increase. 'Appropriate' means the increase should be neither too small nor too big. If the number is too small, the objec­tive of strengthening elective offices at the Central Government level cannot be attained; if the number is too big, the quality of the representatives will be affected by the increase in quantity.

"Furthermore, the election of additional representatives must be coordinated with local elec­tions. There must be an appropriate numerical proportion between representatives at the Central Government level and representatives at the provin­cial and municipal levels elected from the same area. In other words, the number of representa­tives at the Central Government level should not exceed the number of representatives at the provin­cial and municipal levels elected from the same area. At the same time, talented persons should be allowed to choose between participation in the Central Government or in local self-government in accordance with their aspirations and their qualifi­cations.

"Following this principle, we must first of all consider the existing number of representatives at the Central Government level. The areas which have more representatives now will have a lower rate of increase while the areas which have fewer representatives will have a higher rate of increase.

"At the same time, the stipulations of the Constitution must also be taken into consideration. Although Item 6 of the Temporary Provisions stipulates that the formulation of these Regula­tions is not subject to the restrictions prescribed in Articles 26, 64 and 91 of the Constitution, these articles are the basic rules applying to elective offices at the Central Government level and the original provisions of the Constitution still must be used as reference in formulating the new regula­tions. Only the electoral units and number and distribution of the additional representatives at the Central Government level are to be appropriate­ly readjusted."

It was found that if the calculation of popula­tion prescribed in the Constitution were followed, the number of additional members of the National Assembly would be 27 and the number of additional members of the Legislative Yuan would be 20. These figures were adjudged too small and they were raised to 38 and 28 for an increase of 40 per cent over those resulting from the constitutional formula. The Control Yuan figures were increased by 43 per cent to 7 for Taiwan Province and 3 for Taipei Special City.

The Republic of China's government is based on democratic constitutionalism. Citizens are guaranteed the right of election and of holding public office. Election of members of the National Assembly and Legislative Yuan is by universal, equal, direct and secret ballot under a system of "one voter, one vote for one candidate." Members also represent racial, occupational and women's organizations and overseas Chinese. The Control Yuan is elected by secret ballot of provincial assemblies and municipal councils and overseas Chinese.

Article 134 of the Constitution stipulates: "In the various kinds of elections, the number of women to be elected shall be fixed and measures pertaining thereto shall be prescribed by law." Stat­ute law specifies the minimum number of female representatives at 10 per cent of the total. Electors are citizens who have attained the age of 20 and lived in their domicile of birth or an election district continuously for more than six months.

The National Assembly exercises rights of elec­tion, recall, initiative and referendum. The As­sembly elects the President and Vice President, amends the Constitution and is the only organ which can alter the boundaries of the country. The constitutional National Assembly opened at Nanking November 15, 1946, and adopted the Constitution December 25. That Assembly had 2,961 members.

The Legislative Yuan was established in Decem­ber, 1928. At first the members were appointed by the Central Government. The first elected Legisla­tive Yuan assembled at Nanking May 18, 1948. Legislative powers include those of the budget, declarations of war, conclusion of peace or treaties, bills concerning martial law or general amnesty, appeal to the Executive Yuan for change of any policy with which the Legislative Yuan disagrees, consent, interrogation and initiation of constitu­tional amendments. The legislature authorizes grants-in-aid to provinces and settles disputes be­tween national and local levels of government.

Although the Kuomintang has been the Re­public of China's ruling party since the National Revolution, it is not written into the Constitution and is subject to replacement by peaceful means when another party becomes strong enough. As in the United States, political parties are extra-constitutional. This expression of the true consti­tutionalism of the Republic of China was clearly on view in the December elections.