The Republic of China expressed both these Lincoln maxims in democratic practice December 6 with supplementary parliamentary elections that sent 70 new members to the Legislative Yuan and 76 to the National Assembly. On December 27, the third component of parliament, the Control Yuan, "watchdog of government," was reinforced when the Taiwan Provincial Assembly and the City Councils of Taipei and Kaohsiung chose 12 new members.
Of the 9.9 million eligible voters 66.3 per cent cast Legislative Yuan and National Assembly election ballots at the 8,598 polling places in Taiwan, the Penghus, Kinmen and Matsu. The last two are in Fukien Province rather than Taiwan. Peace, order and a complete lack of serious incidents marked the elections in sharp contradiction to the charges of undemocratic practices raised by those convicted of sedition after the violent Kaohsiung incident of December, 1979. Relatives of the Kaohsiung rioters were among the candidates. There was no discrimination against them and some were successful
Although the Kuomintang (majority Nationalist Party) won 56 of the 70 Legislative Yuan seats and 63 of the 76 National Assembly posts, independents did well. The Democratic Socialist Party elected one member to the National Assembly. Six Young China Party candidates failed in Legislative Yuan races as voters showed a preference for Kuomintang members and independents. The majority party deliberately refrained from nominating as many candidates as there were seats. Although 96 per cent of KMT-endorsed candidates were successful, only 27 per cent of members who ran without the party's blessing were elected.
Chi Cheng, a sprinter who won world renown and set records on the cinderpath 10 years ago, chalked up the biggest number of votes. Running in Taipei as a Kuomintang candidate for the Legislative Yuan, she had a count of 134,421, far ahead of independent Kang Ning-hsiang, who had 75,995. The heaviest vote in National Assembly races, 154,266, went to Hsu Chung-chuan in Kaohsiung City with Chou Ching-yu in Taipei City second with 153,466. In the Republic of China system, the voter chooses only one candidate regardless of the number of seats being filled in his district. In Taipei City, for example, 33 candidates sought 8 seats. Chi Cheng was on top with her 134,421. The tailender received only 552 votes.
Although Taipei's turnout was only 65.44 per cent of the electorate, voters on the frontlines of Kinmen and Matsu just off the Communist occupied Chinese mainland poured into polling places at a rate of nearly 96 per cent. Among those casting ballots in their home districts were President Chiang Ching-kuo, Vice President Shieh Tung-min and former President Yen Chia-kan. Plane, rail and bus travel was heavy as voters traveled to their home places to exercise the franchise. Election day, a Saturday, was declared a national holiday to encourage participation.
Youth and substantial education were exemplified in the successful candidates. The average age of those elected was 45: 45.3 for new National Assemblymen and 44.6 for legislators. Four of those sent to the National Assembly have doctor's degrees, 6 have master's degrees and 45 have attended college. Nineteen finished high school and 2 have only grade school educations. Nearly 83 per cent are Kuomintang members. Ten are incumbents, having served for six years in consequence of previous supplementary elections in 1969 and 1972. Other members of the Assembly, the Legislative Yuan and the Control Yuan were chosen on the Chinese mainland before the Communist usurpation. Their terms were extended for the duration of the Communist emergency. Sixty-four of those named to the Assembly are men and 12 are women. Fifty-seven are from Taiwan Province districts, 7 from Taipei, 5 from Kaohsiung and 7 from mainland provinces.
Of the 70 legislators elected, 8 have doctor's degrees, 9 have master's degrees and 42 have been graduated from or attended college. Ten finished high school and I had no formal schooling but passed the civil examination. Eighty per cent are Kuomintang members and the rest are independents. Sixty-three are men and 7 are women. Fifty-three come from Taiwan Province, 7 from Taipei, 3 from Kaohsiung and 7 from mainland provinces. Fourteen are incumbents.
The three-body ROC parliament is unique. It was established under the Constitution of 1947 with 2,691 members of the National Assembly, 760 of the Legislative Yuan and 180 of the Control Yuan. Not all parliamentarians reached Taiwan when the Communists usurped the mainland in 1949. As parliamentary terms expired, the Council of Grand Justices interpreted the Constitution as permitting members to remain in office until the next all-China elections.
This was satisfactory in 1954 but not sufficient to solve the problem of aging and increasing mortality as of the 1970s. Before this election, the age of Control Yuan members averaged 73, that of legislators 72 and that of Assemblymen 71. These averages included younger parliamentarians elected in 1969 and 1972 supplementary elections made possible by amendment of the Constitution. The election of 1969 supplied 15 new Assemblymen, 11 legislators and 2 Controllers, while that of 1972 produced 53 Assemblymen, 52 legislators and 15 Controllers. Further supplementary elections scheduled for December, 1978, were postponed when President Jimmy Carter announced the U.S. recognition of the Chinese Communists and derecognition of the Republic of China virtually on the eve of the scheduled date. Fears were then expressed that voting might lead to untoward expressions of protest against the U.S action.
In announcing the postponement. President Chiang Ching-kuo assured the nation that the elections would be rescheduled as soon as possible. A year later the Kaohsiung incident, in which nearly 200 policemen and military police were injured by rioters instigated by Formosa magazine workers who were subsequently convicted of sedition, again posed an obstacle to expeditious conduct of supplementary elections. In the end, the voting still was held expeditiously to express the Republic of China's democratic dedication and satisfy the very real need for new parliamentary blood.
The three organs of the parliament are far from being rubberstamps. The Legislative Yuan approves or rejects laws proposed by the Executive Yuan or introduced on its own initiative, adopts the budget, imposes martial law and grants amnesties, declares war and ratifies treaties proposed by the Executive Yuan. The President's nomination of a Premier must have the approval of the legislature.
The National Assembly holds an annual session. Once every six years it convenes an extended session to elect the President and Vice President on the basis of nominations submitted by political parties or originating within the Assembly. Amendment of the Constitution is another important power of the National Assembly.
The Control Yuan has the power of impeaching or censuring government functionaries of all levels. Members investigate charges against government organs and carry out their own examination of government performance.
Counting the Control Yuan election or appointment of 32 new or holdover members, the December elections are adding 205 supplementary parliamentarians, including 76 Assemblymen and 97 legislators. Re-elected or replaced were 148 supplementary parliamentarians chosen in the special elections of 1969 and 1972. Not all of these seats are filled on a basis of the general election results. Seventy per cent of National Assembly supplementary members come from Taiwan and Fukien Province districts and 30 per cent are chosen by women's and occupational groups. Of the legislators, 55 per cent are the products of election districts, 18 per cent are named by women's and occupational groups and 27 per cent are chosen from among prominent overseas Chinese. Supplementary controllers include 70 per cent elected by the Taiwan Provincial Assembly and Taipei and Kaohsiung City Councils and 30 per cent named from among overseas Chinese.
The effect on the parliamentary aging problem is shown in the higher percentages of supplementary members making up membership of the three organs. The change in the National Assembly is from 4.4 per cent to 6.2 per cent, that in the Legislative Yuan from 14.1 per cent to 23.3 per cent and that in the Control Yuan from 26.3 per cent to 46.3 per cent. This means even more than is suggested by the percentages. Many of the surviving original members of the parliamentary organs are infirm as well as superannuated and attend meetings rarely or not at all. Before the next election, supplementary members will be a potent factor in the deliberations of the Legislative Yuan. Probably they will dominate the Control Yuan, considering that their number is already close to a majority. The National Assembly is a big body. Presumably there will be enough of the original members to prevail at the next presidential election in 1984. Whether that will still be the case in 1990 is another question.
February 1 was the swearing-in day for both new Assemblymen and legislators. Everyone — candidates, leaders and people agreed that the election had been honest, fair, peaceful and a democratic success. President Chiang Ching-kuo heard a report from Interior Minister Chiu Chuang-huan, chairman of the Central election Committee which supervised proceedings under regulations laid down in the new election law. President Chiang expressed appreciation for the work of election officials. Premier Sun Yun-suan said operation of the election law will be reviewed in the light of campaigning and voting experience. Changes will be made, if warranted. He had words of praise for the law-abiding spirit of candidates. The Premier urged the defeated to make other contributions to government. Response also was good from overseas Chinese and foreigners. Both the campaign and the voting were reported by resident and visiting correspondents and television teams. Although public favorable comment was impossible, the people of the Chinese mainland were learning another "Taiwan lesson." In more than 30 years, the Communists have allowed no meaningful free election on the mainland. The so-called "people's congress" is hand-picked by Chinese Communist party leaders.
The Taiwan campaign had a duration of 15 days. Some political scientists wondered whether this was long enough but admitted that to err on the side of brevity was preferable to the great length of American general election campaigns. For eight days beginning November 21, candidates engaged in privately sponsored campaign meetings throughout their districts. During the last seven days they appeared at officially sponsored forums together with their opponents. A limit of six private meetings a day was imposed with none to last more than two hours. Sites were reported to local election committees and included every conceivable place where a crowd might be drawn and not block traffic or otherwise interfere with the normal pursuits of society. Many of the locales were out of doors.
Election forums were held in a variety of settings. Temple courtyards offered ample room for the big crowds. (File photo)
Candidates and their assistants manned sound trucks that toured their districts from 7 in the morning until 10 at night. Campaigning was prohibited for the other nine hours. House-to-house calls were made with the usual baby bouncing and passing out of campaign literature. The greatest election visibility was according to slogans and posters pasted up everywhere: on trees and poles, along walls and on buildings. In the cities, voters couldn't turn around without finding an election message. Once the election was over, a huge campaign clean-up began. Under the election law, all materials had to be removed within 10 days. Movie and TV stars turned out to support their favorite politicians. So did athletes and other public figures. One candidate had seven comely girls in his entourage; another declined to employ any assistants.
Although the election law takes a dim view of personal attacks on other candidates, there was no lack of stumping eloquence and oratorical fireworks. Issues were plentiful. Many of the office-seekers pledged efforts to obtain more public housing. Taiwan has an urban housing shortage and prices of apartments have soared. Water and air pollution were denounced. Consumer protection was a favorite subject, as was increased pay for public functionaries. Rural candidates demanded higher prices for farm products. Reduction of the license fee for motorcycles and increase of that for automobiles was another advocacy. Taiwan has a lot more two-wheelers than sedans. Improvement of welfare was demanded. Some candidates supported tougher safety precautions at nuclear power plants. Foreign relations was not an issue. All candidates backed the government's policy of anti-Communist and friendship with Free World countries.
Most violations of the election law were of a minor nature. Candidates went astray out of ignorance and because of their enthusiasm rather than in a spirit of defiance. Nearly all mended their ways when the violations were called to their attention. The most serious outside interference involved telephone calls from the "Taiwan Independence Alliance" in the United States asking voters to elect independent candidates. Those receiving the calls reported them to the authorities and expressed strong disapproval of such tactics.
Aside from a few showers and cloudiness in the morning, election day weather was favorable. Polls were open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at conveniently located schoolhouses. Election officials were solicitous. Even long lines of people waiting to get their ballots had few complaints. Voters showed their identity cards and voting notices, then received white ballots for the National Assembly election and yellow ones for the Legislative Yuan.
After the conclusion of voting, ballot boxes were sealed and subsequently turned over to the Central Election Committee for counting by computer. This procedure was used for the first time and resulted in some delays. The interior minister said that the computers were not at fault and that slowness of the count was occasioned by minor mistakes in Taipei and Yunlin Counties, where ballots had to be recounted. Final tabulations were available at 2 p.m. of the day following the election. The Election Committee established a computer center in the gymnasium of the Taipei College of Physical Education. Press and television personnel were on hand there to report the proceedings and the outcome to the nation. All three television networks were on the air with election reporting from 9 p.m. the evening of election day.
Commentators and editorialists were agreed that the election was the most successful in China's history and augured well for the future of Chinese democracy, even though it was held under difficult conditions and after a period of delay that was no fault of government or people. A commentary summing up the national feelings follows:
This country's election was an outstanding success — not without faults, certainly, but a convincing contradiction of the disunity implied by the participants in the Kaohsiung incident a year ago. Democracy requires responsibility, and both voters and officials showed that they were responsible for assuring a free, orderly and peaceful election. Any incidents were so minor as to be of no importance. This isn't true of very many elections in the world. We can be proud of having reached such a point very early in the process of democratic evolution.
The turnout of more than 65 per cent of eligible voters was much higher than in the United States. Of course, it wasn't as high as in countries which make voting compulsory, but we don't agree that democracy should force everyone to vote. If democracy is to be meaningful, it needs call only for the vote of every interested citizen. Those who don't care, and there will always be some such, are better left a t home.
The Kuomintang did very well. This is an expression of confidence earned by the KMT's service to the people and its attraction of more competent candidates. Those who run for political office want to win, so they tend to associate themselves with winning parties. At the same time, the majority party left ample room for the expression of an oppositionist point of view, principally through independents. This was partly achieved by the KMT's restraint in not nominating as many candidates as there were parliamentary openings. The Kuomintang is well aware that the democratic system mandates an eventual transfer of power. Otherwise we have dictatorship by partisan means and democracy is merely a propaganda word of the authoritarians.
Judging from appearances, those who went to the polls knew what they wanted. There wasn't much hesitation about voting. The voters had made up their minds: they marked their ballots quickly. Any election criticisms belong at the door of the officials rather than the voters. Voting booths should assure greater privacy. Even television was able to zoom in and see which candidate a voter chose. This negated the secret ballot and should be corrected. Maybe our precincts are too large. The lines were long at many voting places. This meant delays and these are not conducive to large turnouts. Admittedly, we do not have a great deal of experience in the conduct of elections. That is all the more reason to find any shortcomings and correct them before we go to the polls next time. Many people were confused about where to deposit their ballots. They had to put one in the National Assembly box and the other in the Legislative Yuan box. There are many possible solutions to this simple difficulty.
Ours was a very simple election. Voters had only two choices to make compared with an average of a dozen or more in the United States. In the November election, an American may have had to vote for president and vice president, a senator and representative, state governor and other elected state officials, member of the state legislature and on a variety of state and local propositions. Obviously, we are not prepared to handle a ballot like that at this time. But if democracy is to prosper, we eventually shall have to make more decisions by direct rather than representative decision.
Some political scientists will raise the question of whether a vote for only one of the legislators representing a district can be considered sound democracy. Ideally, if three candidates are to represent a district, the voter should be called upon to vote for three rather than only one. If he then chooses only one, that can be considered a loading of his ballot for a single preference. Each of our elections should be subject to careful analysis and review. That is the way to learn and open the way to a better performance next time.
One disappointment — especially in rural areas — was the predominance of men among the voters. The female half of our population is eligible to vote but either isn't much interested or is discouraged from exercising the franchise. Both the government and politicians could do a lot more to impress women with their importance as citizens as well as homemakers.
But overall it was a very good and encouraging election. Those who observed and reported it abroad may come from homelands that are a good deal more sophisticated about voting procedures and representative government. This is not the comparison that should be made. What took place in Taiwan Province on election day ought to be contrasted with the complete absence of voting on the Chinese mainland. One billion of our compatriots in continental China are totally disenfranchised. They don't vote for anything or anybody. They are told what to believe and do by a tiny minority of a few thousand bosses.
If ever China is to be united and free, the democratic progress made on Taiwan will deserve much of the credit. People and government of the Republic of China have proved that the Chinese people need not be the "loose grains of sand" that Dr. Sun Yat-sen deplored. They need not be Communists, either. They are capable of becoming free electors who will modernize and update legislative bodies to make the laws, choose the officials and lay down the policies to bring China back together again in prosperity and democracy.
That is a big order. But as the foregoing commentary implies, it is a credible promise after the parliamentary elections of 1980.