2007年2月2日12:14，筆者的e-mail傳來Taipei Times的一封信，標題是：希望就單一選區議題進行採訪。原來是該報記者石秀娟小姐表示：陳老師，您好，冒昧打擾您，我是Taipei Times的記者，希望能就關於最近單一選區兩票制選區劃分的問題，跟你做電話採訪，如您方便的話，煩請回信附上您的連絡電話，謝謝幫忙......於是就有了以下的採訪報導/分析報導（Analysis: Impartiality not possible in redistricting process）......
Analysis: Impartiality not possible in redistricting process
CAREERS ON THE LINE: Lawmakers may claim to be servants of their constituencies, but when their jobs are at stake a little old-fashioned selfishness is almost inevitable
By Shih Hsiu-chuan
STAFF REPORTER
Taipei Times, Monday, Feb 05, 2007, Page 3
Advertising The revised electoral boundaries for the year-end legislative elections were decided on Jan 31, breaking a deadlock that threatened to boil over into a constitutional crisis.
Some observers allege, however, that the boundaries were manipulated for electoral advantage by incumbent legislators and their parties.
The redistricting came about because a constitutional amendment passed in June 2005 required the ”single-vote, multiple-member district” system to be replaced by a ”two-vote, single-member district” mechanism and the number of legislative seats to be cut from 225 to 113.
Under the new system, voters will elect only one candidate per district for 73 seats, with another 34 seats decided by the proportion of votes cast for specific political parties.
The six remaining seats are reserved for Aboriginal legislators, who are elected by their respective constituencies.
The regulations state that legislative approval is required before the redistricting plan proposed by Central Election Commission (CEC) can be implemented.
However, with the legislature failing to approve the plan by a set date, the redistricting had to be decided on through negotiation between the premier and the legislative speaker.
This has opened the redistricting process up to charges of political influence.
”Owing to the undue involvement of politicians, the boundaries of many constituencies were demarcated as a result of meeting them or their parties halfway,” said Tseng Chien-yuan (曾建元), an assistant professor of public administration at Chung Hua University.
To avoid gerrymandering, it is generally accepted that redistricting should be governed by certain principles: population equality, geographic compactness and contiguity, and respect for regularity of administrative district shape as well as communities of shared interest, Tseng said.
Some of the principles, nevertheless, were ignored during the latest redistricting process.
Of the nation’s 25 counties and cities, 10 did not require redistricting as only one lawmaker will be elected in each of them due to their relatively small populations.
Of the remaining 63 districts in 15 counties and cities, the political parties could agree on the redistricting of only 20 districts in seven counties and cities. The disputes over the other 43 districts in eight counties and cities were not resolved until lots were drawn at the final hour last Wednesday.
”Redistricting is a highly political issue in nature, and the fact that we don’t have an impartial commission to prevent partisanship complicates the problem,” said Yang Chun-chih (楊鈞池), an associate professor of government and law at National University of Kaohsiung.
The fact that Taipei City’s Shilin (士林), Zhongzheng (中正) and Songshan (松山) districts and Taichung County’s Dali City (大里) -- among many others -- were divided into two constituencies shows how principals such as preserving the regularity of administrative districts may have been overlooked.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lee Ching-hua’s (李慶華) proposed remapping of Taipei County, meanwhile, is an example of how politicians attempted to violate the principles of population equality and respect for communities of shared interests.
Under Lee’s proposal, five boroughs, which have traditionally been regarded as a pan-green stronghold, would be removed from the constituency of Jhonghe City and included in the Yunghe City constituency.
Lee’s suggestion seemed indefensible because the five boroughs constitute the downtown business area of Jhonghe City.
Lee refused to budge and his proposal was included in the draw, but lady luck did not favor him in the end.
Another suspicious -- and ultimately unsuccessful -- proposal was People First Party Legislator Shen Chin-hwei’s (沈智慧) suggestion that Taichung City’s North District (北區) be divided into two parts to create a contiguity between Beitun District (北屯區) and East District (東區).
Shen’s motion was widely regarded as an attempt to unite the two districts in which electors have traditionally voted in her favor.
”As rezoning is inextricably linked with the extension of their political lives, lawmakers cannot be impartial about the matter,” Yang said.
The requirement for legislative approval of the CEC’s redistricting plan was added to Article 42 of The Public Officials Election and Recall Law (公職人員選舉罷免法) in December 2005 as a result of KMT concerns over the impartiality of the CEC.
The KMT introduced a bill proposing a new commission be formed to handle the redistricting and that the commission’s members be selected in accordance with the ratio of legislative seats held by each party. As a result, the commission would have been dominated by the pan-blues.
”We doubted that the CEC would remap constituencies with impartiality. As its members are appointed by the ruling party, it surely would have been biased,” KMT Legislator Huang Teh-fu (黃德福) said.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Jao Yung-ching (趙永清) said that that as the pan-blue camp’s legislative majority would have allowed it to pass the bill, the DPP had no choice but to accept a compromise in the form of the requirement for legislative approval of the CEC’s plan.
”It’s a result of compromise. At that time we could only ask for the inclusion of the negotiation mechanism [between the premier and the legislative speaker] in the amended article,” Chao said.
He added that the negotiation mechanism was intended to resolve conflicts that could not be agreed upon in the legislature.
Reflecting on the issue from the angle of constitutionality, Chen Chao-jian (陳朝建), an assistant professor of public affairs at Ming Chuan University, said that the introduction of legislative approval for redistricting was permissible under the system of checks and balances.
”Leaving the final approval to the legislature is reasonable as the political reality is that the pan-blue camp is unlikely to accept a redistricting plan proposed by the CEC or by any other independent non-partisan commissions,” Chen said.
To prevent lawmakers from gaining electoral advantage from the redistricting process, Chen suggested putting the legislature-approved proposal to a referendum.
------------------------------去年度(2006)的引述------------------------------
Published on Taipei Times
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2006/01/22/2003290187
Su-Tsai pairing gets favorable response
NEW PREMIER: Most observers and politicians reacted positively to their appointment, although a PFP legislator said he was concerned Tsai may tighten cross-strait policy
By Jimmy Chuang
STAFF REPORTER
Sunday, Jan 22, 2006, Page 3
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The appointment of Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) as premier and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) as his deputy received generally positive feedback from both local and foreign politicians and political observers.
Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) publicly affirmed Su’s decision to appoint Tsai as his deputy, saying his decision showed respect for women.
The two can help each other since their areas of expertise are in different areas, she added
Su, whose nickname is ``electrical fireball (電火球)’’ -- earned when he was a democracy campaigner in the 1980s -- is an experienced politician, while Tsai’s expertise is in international affairs and cross-strait relations. She has a doctorate from the London School of Economics and Political Science.
”Females always notice things that males cannot. It is a perfect balance,” Lu said.
But Lu also reminded her fellow politician not to become arrogant after taking up her post.
People First Party (PFP) Legislator Liu Wen-hsiung (劉文雄) said that while he would expect Su and Tsai to take action, he was worried that Tsai may tighten the nation’s China policy, as she was the architect of former president Lee Teng-hui’s (李登輝) ”no haste, be patient” cross-strait policy.
”When [Tsai] was chairwoman of the Mainland Affairs Council, the president always took her advice to design national policies toward China,” Liu said. ”I am really concerned that our China policy will be tightened and become stricter again now that she will become vice premier.”
PFP caucus whip Hwang Yih-jiau (黃義交) had a different view. Hwang said that whether policies toward China are tightened or loosened is up to the president.
”It is the president’s call, not a vice premier’s,” Hwang said. ”I sincerely wish Su and Tsai good luck. I also hope they can do something for the people.”
In an interview with the Central News Agency (CNA), former US ambassador to China James Lilley said President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) had made ”a correct decision” in appointing Su as the new premier.
”[Outgoing Premier Frank] Hsieh [謝長延] is an ideal person for the premier’s office. But, if he needs to be replaced for whatever reason, Su would be the best choice because Su is an energetic character and is also a person with lots of fresh ideas,” Lilley was quoted as saying.
Alan Romberg, senior associate and Director of the East Asia Program of the Henry L. Stimson Center, a US think tank based in Washington, told CNA that Su and Tsai will make a ”formidable combination” in terms of intelligence, talent and experience.
A key factor in their ability to have an impact will be the relationship between the president, the premier, the legislature and the DPP, Romberg said.
Another factor will be how Su, Hsieh and other potential DPP candidates for the 2008 presidential poll view the links between those various nodes of power, especially on the question of who is going to set policy, he added.
The Su-Tsai pairing was also regarded by some as a potential combination to represent the DPP in the 2008 presidential election.
In a letter to the editor in the Chinese-language newspaper the Liberty Times, the Taipei Times’ sister paper, Chen Chao-jian (陳朝建), an assistant professor in the Public Affairs Department at Ming Chuan University, said that Su and Tsai may be the best candidates for the DPP in 2008 because they have ”the best reputations and are popular enough” to compete with pan-blue superstar and potential presidential candidate Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九).
”When the DPP administration was being haunted by the Kaohsiung Rapid Transit Corp scandal, Su and Tsai seemed to be removed from the dirt and neutral,” Chen Chao-jian wrote.
