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Levels of Government
The national government comprises the presidency and five major branches, or yuan. At present, local governments include those of 18 counties, five autonomous municipalities with the same hierarchical status as counties, and two special municipalities. April 2009 revisions to the Local Government Act permit administrative districts to merge or upgrade status with central government permission. Approval has been granted to establish four new special municipalities (including one to be formed through the integration of Kaohsiung County with Kaohsiung special municipality) by December 2010, after which Taiwan will have five special municipalities, 14 counties and three county-level municipalities.
The Office of the President has been the seat of supreme political power in Taiwan for 90 years. (Chang Su-ching)
The Presidency
The President is head of state and commander-in-chief of the armed forces, represents the nation in foreign relations, and is empowered to appoint the heads of four out of the five branches of government, including the premier, who heads the Executive Yuan. The president and vice president serve terms of four years and may be re-elected for a second term.
Five Branches of Government
The Executive Yuan comprises eight ministries and some 30 additional commissions and agencies, whose heads are appointed by the premier and form the Executive Yuan Council, commonly referred to as the Cabinet. The premier bears the overall responsibility for formulating and implementing programs and must report regularly to the Legislative Yuan (Legislature). In order to raise government efficiency, the Executive Yuan is proposing an organizational reform to take effect in 2011 that will reduce the number of Cabinet-level agencies by about one-fourth, through creating new ones while merging or eliminating old ones.
Besides reviewing and enacting legislation, the Legislature conducts hearings on policy matters, examines budgetary bills and monitors the operations of government agencies. The Examination Yuan is responsible for managing the civil service system, the Judicial Yuan operates the nation’s system of courts, and the Control Yuan is empowered to impeach and censure officials and audit government agencies.
Neither the president’s appointment of the premier nor the premier’s appointments of ministers are subject to confirmation by the Legislature. However, presidential appointments of members of the Control Yuan and the Examination Yuan, as well as grand justices of the Judicial Yuan, must be confirmed by the Legislature. Legislators elect the head of the Legislature, or speaker, from among their ranks.
Political Parties
Given the key role of the presidency in overall ROC government functioning, the term “ruling party” often denotes which political party occupies the Office of the President in Taiwan. The Kuomintang (KMT) held the presidency for over five decades before the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) won the March 2000 and 2004 presidential elections. The KMT regained the presidency by winning the March 2008 election. The DPP remains the main political party to oppose the KMT in presidential elections.
The KMT has always held a majority of seats in the Legislature, and following the January 2008 legislative elections, now commands 71 percent of the seats in the Legislature to the DPP’s 24 percent. Other parties that have had a significant presence in the Legislature in recent years include the Non-Partisan Solidarity Union, the People First Party, and the Taiwan Solidarity Union.
The ROC Constitution
The ROC Constitution, promulgated on the Chinese mainland on January 1, 1947, did not begin to serve its intended purpose as the foundation for democratic governance and rule of law until after 1987, when martial law was lifted. Since then, it has undergone seven rounds of revision—in 1991, 1992, 1994, 1997, 1999, 2000 and 2005—in order to make it more relevant to the ROC’s current condition.
One of the more important consequences of these amendments is that since 1991, the ROC government has acknowledged that its powers under the Constitution and ROC laws apply only to areas that it controls. The ROC president and legislators, therefore, are elected by and accountable to the people of those areas only.
In accordance with the latest package of constitutional amendments, promulgated in June 2005, the number of seats in the Legislative Yuan has been cut in half, from 225 to 113; the term of legislators has been increased from three to four years; a new “single-seat-district, two-ballot” electoral system has been instituted; and the power to ratify constitutional amendments is now exercised by ROC citizens through referenda.
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