TAIPEI : A Vote for Reform
In a key step toward a genuinely democratic system in the country, voters in Taiwan go to the polls Saturday to elect the legislators scheduled to make key decisions next year about constitutional reform.
At stake are 225 directly elected seats in Taiwan’s 405-seat National Assembly. The rest of the places will be filled by 80 incumbents and 100 members to be appointed proportionally among political parties.
The Nationalist Party now maintains a firm grip on power through a constitutional structure designed for the pre-1949 period when it ruled all of China. And there is little doubt that it will again win a majority--the party backs candidates for 215 seats while the main opposition party has fielded only 94 candidates.
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