Taiwan Today

For the first time since 2008, no party holds a clear majority in the Legislative Yuan.
 

Taiwan’s most recent presidential election saw the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) Lai Ching-te (賴清德) voted in as the next head of state. The party has held the presidency since 2016, but this year’s legislative election delivered a shake-up unseen since the Legislative Yuan was restructured in 2008: no party gained a parliamentary majority. The Kuomintang (KMT) earned 52 seats and the DPP 51, while the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), founded in 2019, won eight seats. Independents hold the remaining two, for a total of 113 seats.
 

On Feb. 1, the lawmakers of the 11th Legislature were sworn in and elected the KMT’s Daniel K.Y. Han (韓國瑜‬ٌ) as their speaker. As a senior legislator and former mayor of southern Taiwan’s Kaohsiung City, Han received the full backing of his party, as well as additional support from other representatives. Johnny C. Chiang (江啟臣), also of the KMT, began his fourth consecutive legislative term as deputy speaker Feb. 20 with the opening of the parliamentary session.
 

During Lunar New Year greetings the previous day, Han exhorted his fellow lawmakers to rationally examine government operations and fully discuss the items that come before them, likening the lawmaking body to a locomotive. The speaker further addressed the majority question: “This legislature’s composition reflects our diverse, pluralistic society,” Han said.

Collaborative Focus

In contrast to the solid majorities present in the previous four Legislatures, the 11th Legislature’s unique situation presents interesting potential political coalitions. One possibility is that a strong opposition will take shape if the TPP chooses to partner with the KMT. In whatever form the parties decide to work together, CEO Chang Hung-lin (陳宏林) of Citizen Congress Watch (CCW) sees the lack of a clear majority as an immense benefit. The nongovernmental organization was established in 2007 in Taipei City with the goal of releasing regular reports evaluating legislators as a way to improve transparency and efficiency in lawmaking bodies at both the central and local levels. “The lawmakers are no longer sheltered by a majority, so they’ll have to work harder to persuade their colleagues and win broad support in the Legislative Yuan, as well as explain their proposals with clarity to garner social support,” Chang said. “In short, we can expect to see a more dialectical process in the 11th Legislature.”
 

Thanks to joint public and private sector efforts from organizations like CCW and the government-sponsored Public Television Service, the Legislative Yuan has already achieved a high level of transparency. By streaming its sessions online, the legislative branch of the government invites interested parties to witness the process of lawmaking, which includes meetings of the body’s standing committees on economic affairs; education and culture; finance; foreign affairs and national defense; internal administration; judiciary, organic laws and statutes; sanitation, environment and labor affairs; and transportation.

Exemplary Democracy

Other parts of the parliamentary process are also being watched with avid interest as the parties navigate the body’s nonmajority state. Cross-party caucus negotiations, which are mandated by the Act Governing the Exercise of Rights of the Legislative Yuan, are of particular interest to Wang Yeh-lih (王業立), professor in the Department of Political Science at Taipei-based National Taiwan University. “Such meetings, which are facilitated by the speaker, will play an even more important role,” he said.
 

In Wang’s view, as an emerging power, the TPP is likely to switch between cooperating with the KMT and DPP on a case-by-case basis to accumulate political capital. CCW’s Chang noted that the TPP is in the challenging position of walking the line between two parties that have long dominated Taiwan’s political scene, but he sees this as a prime opportunity for it to play a moderating third-party role. Both Chang and Wang expect any possible cross-party partnerships to build common ground in the Legislature while also seeking a broader social consensus.
 

Under Taiwan’s president-parliamentary system, there are two political centers: the Legislative Yuan, to which the premier is held accountable, and the directly elected president, who appoints the premier. According to Chang, this balance is crucial. “When the congress works normally, the country works normally,” he asserted, adding that the CCW’s work helps voters stay informed of legislators’ performance before they make a decision. “Surveying influential figures like lawmakers is an important part of keeping a democratic system running smoothly,” he said.
 

Looking at the world as a whole, Taiwan is a front-runner in democratic development. The Democracy Index 2023 from the London-based Economist Intelligence Unit places Taiwan first in Asia and 10th among the 167 surveyed countries, naming it as one of the 24 full democracies that govern just 7.8 percent of the global population. Through its robust legislative process, Taiwan continues to strengthen its political system while boosting democratic stability in the region and around the world.
 

Gender Balance

Taiwan adopted a new election system in 2008 that requires at least half of a political party’s at-large legislators to be women. As a result, the number of female representatives in the 113-seat Legislative Yuan has increased, holding steady at 47 in 2020 and 2024 and accounting for just over 40 percent of the legislature. Though Indigenous and district seats are held to no such quota, female candidates still garnered 29 seats in those categories. “It’s a clear sign of women’s growing political empowerment,” said Chen Wen-wei (陳文葳), vice chair of the Awakening Foundation (AF). The nongovernmental organization, founded in 1982 in Taipei City as a magazine publisher, became a pioneering feminist advocacy group during Taiwan’s social liberalization movements in the 1980s.
 

In 2007 Taiwan promulgated the 1981 U.N. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women Enforcement Act. In accordance with the law, a national report on the act’s implementation is released every four years. Domestic and international organizations are then free to review the effectiveness of the policies, and according to Chen, women’s political participation is a significant indicator. Joint work by government bodies and grassroots organizations like the AF led to the Gender Equality in Employment Act, Gender Equity Education Act and Sexual Harassment Prevention Act in the 2000s. Amendments to the three gender-related laws were passed by the Legislative Yuan in July 2023 and entered into force on March 8 of this year to mark International Women’s Day.
 

Chen pointed out that Taiwan ranks high above global and Asian averages of women in national parliaments thanks to rising levels of female education and vocational participation. “Gender-related issues are relevant across all legislative and policy-making fields ranging from culture, economics, education and finance to internal administration and social welfare,” she said. The voices of female lawmakers are especially pertinent in discussions on issues like sexual harassment that disproportionately affect women, Chen added.
 

Quotas for female councilors exist on the local level as well and are regulated by the Local Government Act, which states that for every four seats in an electoral district, one must be filled by a woman. The Ministry of the Interior’s statistics show that the law has had a powerful effect. As of 2022, women make up 36 percent of councilors in counties and county-level cities and 39.8 percent of councilors in the six special municipalities.
 

Reaching gender equity is a work in progress, Chen said, adding that there are currently laws and amendments under discussion to address various issues that affect women. One such piece of legislation is a proposed amendment to the Assisted Reproduction Act that will expand access to in vitro fertilization treatments, which are currently limited to heterosexual married couples.
 

While Taiwan has achieved considerable results in integrating women into the political system, Chen hopes to see yet more women serve in the Cabinet and other influential positions in the public sphere. “Women account for half the population,” she said. “To see them fully realize their potential would benefit society and national competitiveness in spectacular ways.”

Write to Pat Gao at cjkao@mofa.gov.tw