A “Green” Legislature: Taiwan’s New Parliament More Different Than Ever

On 16 January, Taiwanese voters historically elected the very first Legislative Yuan (LY) that was not dominated by the ruling Kuomingtang (KMT). The defeat of the KMT, a party which had controlled Taiwan’s Legislature for over half a century after it fled to Taiwan in 1949, signalled Taiwanese voters’ expectation for a change in the nation’s highest law-making body. During his concession speech, defeated KMT presidential candidate Eric Chu (朱立倫) said that “Taiwan’s political arena cannot exist without the KMT”. However, Taiwanese voters by using their ballot papers strongly showed that, for once, they wanted a Taiwan where the KMT did not hold both the presidency and the parliament.

This year, 113 legislators – who compose the 9th Legislature – opened up a new chapter in the history of Taiwan’s national legislative body. The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) won 68 seats in the 113-seat Legislature, terminating the KMT-monopoly and turning them into the main opposition with only 35 seats. Not only is the 9th Legislative Yuan the first DPP-controlled Legislature in history, it also introduces more fresh faces, and a more diverse and gender-balanced combination of representatives, than ever before.

The dynamics of the Legislature will henceforth be very different, according to the President-elect Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文). She has promised voters a legislative reform which will make the Legislature more representative. In addition, the first DPP member to preside over Taiwan’s Legislature, Su Chia-chyuan (蘇嘉全),was elected as speaker of the Legislative Yuan on its opening day, garnering 74 votes from the 113 lawmakers and promised an end to backdoor negotiations in the Legislature.

Before the first legislative session commences this Friday on 19 February, perhaps it is timely to ask, what the real changes are, and can the changing dynamic really reform Taiwan’s Legislature?

Generational Shift

The result of the 2016 legislative election not only saw the first DPP majority in the Legislature, but also a generational shift in Taiwan’s political arena. The first aspect of the generational shift can be seen in the seniority of the legislators. The new Legislature has 43 first-time legislators, many of whom have never held public office before.

The 19 KMT incumbents who lost their elections collectively had 68 terms of seniority. Their seats are taken by non-KMT challengers with a collective 6 terms under their belts.

(*Was city/county councilors prior to becoming legislators)

Notably even the 24 KMT candidates who won district or indigenous seats only have a total of 48 terms combined. With a DPP majority, and with over one-third of the legislators having no experience in the Legislature before, one can easily expect the dynamics of the Legislature to be considerably different from the past.

Younger

Another aspect of the generational shift lies in the election of a new generation of representatives. This year, more legislators under 40 take office, making the average age of 50, younger than that of the previous Legislature, which was 52. The youngest legislator is 28-year-old Lu Sun-lin (呂孫綾) of the DPP, who beat KMT legislator Wu Yu-sheng (吳育昇), a 57-year-old veteran politician who sought his fourth consecutive term.

In the previous Legislatures, only 8 out of then 48 candidates under age 40 were elected. In this year, there were 101 candidates under 40, and 12 of them won legislative seats. At a forum on a “New Era in US-Taiwan Relations” held the day after the elections, Dr. Michael Hsiao (蕭新煌) of the Academia Sinica said that a “new generation of politics was reflected in the victories of the New Power Party (NPP)”.

Hsiao is right.

Looking into the five NPP legislators, three are under 40 years old. In Taipei, 39-year-old Freddy Lim (林昶佐) beat six-term KMT legislator Lin Yu-fang (林郁芳). 33-year-old Hung Tzu-yung (洪慈庸) defeated five-term KMT legislator Yang Chiung-ying (楊瓊瓔) and gained her party the only seat out of northern Taiwan. On the party-list, the 1^st-ranked Kawlo Lyun Pacidal (高潞 以用) is 38 years old.

In fact, compared with other parties, the NPP provides young people with more opportunities with 9 of their 12 candidates (75 per cent) being under 40. Unlike some under-40 DPP and KMT legislators who are second-generation politicians, the NPP candidates have no political family background, but possess extensive experience in academia, human rights, and civil movement.

In this year’s Legislature, 12 of the under-40 legislators were born in the late 70s when Taiwan was still under martial law. A lot of them were born around 1977, a year when the KMT for the first time lost four city/county heads in local elections. Before then, the KMT had never before lost seats in any elections. Davidson University Professor Shelly Rigger once described 1977 as a “turning point” for Taiwan as the election result revealed that the KMT could no longer control its electoral machine.[1] The Taiwanese born in the post-martial law period, with their victories in the 2016 elections, demonstrated that a new generation had risen and broken the KMT-dominated political landscape.

Diversity

On gender balance, the percentage of women in the Legislature has increased to 38 per cent (43 seats), from 34 per cent (38 seats) in the previous Legislature. The outcome of the legislative race is described by Dr. Nathan Batto as “a victory for diversity”, with Taiwan now ranking 10^th in the world in the proportion of women in its national legislature. The steady increase in Taiwanese women’s representation in the parliament shows that women are gradually gaining power in Taiwan’s political institutions.

The new Legislature also achieved another milestone, which is indigenous representation. In addition to the six reserved seats for indigenous legislators, two more were elected on the party lists of the DPP and the NPP. Although indigenous peoples only make up about 2 per cent of Taiwan’s total population, the eight seats account for 7 per cent of the Legislature. As Batto commented, “this effort to give voice to women and minorities speaks to the pride that Taiwanese have in their diverse and pluralistic society”.

Friend or foe?

The last change of dynamics is the introduction of a new, third ranking party in the Legislature, the NPP. It is not the first time for Taiwan to see a young party enter the Legislature. For instance, two years after its establishment in 1993, the New Party (NP) garnered 21 legislative seats and became the third-largest party. In 2001, the third-largest party was the People First Party (PFP) which won 46 legislative seats just one year after its formation in 2000.

However, it is the first time in Taiwan that a party can become the third-largest party in the parliament with all of its legislators being first-time politicians. The victory of the five NPP legislators, who had never been elected to public office before, shows that Taiwan’s civil society is taking solid steps in shaping up Taiwan’s political landscape. Two of the NPP legislators – Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) and Freddy Lim – were deeply involved with the 2014 student-led Sunflower Movement. Their effort was awarded with voters’ support and, two seats in Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan.

The party’s deep connection with the Sunflower Movement has brought itself international attention. Still, the NPP needs to turn the public’s attention into real admiration; otherwise it can easily be replaced by any other party deriving from social movements.

To continue their momentum, its five legislators will have to show the voters that they are not merely junior partners to the DPP, but a real “third force” in the political spectrum different from the KMT and the DPP. During the 2016 elections campaign, DPP presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen lent her support to the NPP with herself and several DPP heavyweights, including the Tainan and Kaohsiung Mayors, attending many rallies held for NPP candidates. The close collaboration between the NPP and the DPP will be the “baggage” that the legislators will have to get rid of first, should they want to be a real alternative to the traditional blue and green camp rivals. As Dr. Hsu Szu-chien (徐斯儉) of Academia Sinica commented, the NPP has to walk its own path because society is looking expectantly towards the NPP, to see whether they can be a real watchdog in the parliament.

First showdown: the cross-Strait agreement supervisory draft bill

As Huang and Lim both have been advocating public scrutiny over cross-Strait negotiations during the Sunflower Movement, it is expected to see the NPP take an aggressive role in reviewing the cross-Strait agreements supervisory draft bill in the Legislature. Earlier this month, Huang Kuo-chang said that because the DPP last year already expressed support for a version of such a bill proposed by civil groups, “the DPP will have to offer an explanation if they change their mind in the new Legislature”. Huang’s remarks indicate that there might be a rift emerging between the two parties. Similarly, on meetings between cross-Strait leaders, Huang firmly noted that the NPP would not oppose such a meeting. However, he added, it has to be authorised by the Legislature prior to the meeting.

The attitude of Huang shows that his party will not be content with just being a pan‑green party. During their campaign, Huang and Lim both reiterated that they are aiming at totally marginalising the KMT’s political influence. Now, as the KMT has lost the presidency and the Legislature, what is next? It will be interesting to see how the NPP approaches its priority bill, and their stance on major issues as these events will define their real niche market in Taiwan’s political landscape.

From the street to Parliament floor

As Taiwan’s electoral system tends to favour a two-party system, it isn’t sufficient for a party to rely on endless media exposure to consolidate its support. As the NPP has successfully brought social activists outside the Parliament into the offices of its five legislators, they are now under the same public scrutiny as the KMT which they vigorously protested against. Public opinion can change swiftly, especially in response to domestic issues. Calling itself the “Third Force” or recruiting young people from recent social movements does not necessarily mean that the party can adequately represent a new political trend underneath the two-party rivalry. Rather, their actions in the upcoming months in the Legislature and in front of the cameras will determine what they are.

(Feature photo of Huang Kuo-chang, by Watchout on Wikicommons, CC BY-SA 4.0)

[1] Rigger, Shelly (2002) Politics in Taiwan. London: Routledge.