CAUSE FOR CONCERN:The presidential transitional period could bring up challenging issues, such as whether there should be a resignation en masse of the Executive Yuan
By Chris Wang / Staff Reporter
A four-month-long transition period between the Jan. 14 presidential election next year and the president’s inauguration ceremony on May 20 could result in a constitutional crisis, academics warned yesterday at a forum in Taipei.
A victory for Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) over President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), who is seeking re-election, would mark a third regime change in Taiwan following the ones in 2000 and 2008.
Since there is no law regulating the presidential transition, the possibility of Tsai winning the election could cause a clash between the administrative and legislative branches of government, as well as instability in domestic and international politics, panelists said at a forum organized by the Taiwan Brain Trust think tank.
While a draft bill on presidential and vice presidential transition has passed a second reading in the legislature, it could be dumped if lawmakers fail to approve it before the second and last session of the current legislature concludes at the end of the year, panelists said.
“We should view the presidential transition period as crisis management and we cannot take a peaceful transition of power for granted,” said Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍), former deputy secretary-general of the Presidential Office.
A caretaker government is supposed to “freeze” all personnel, foreign policy and budgetary changes before a new administration is inaugurated, Lin said.
In the past, the presidential election has been held on March 20 and the president-elect has been sworn in on May 20. However, the Ma government’s decision to combine the presidential and legislative elections prolongs the transition period to four months and five days, which could be the longest period in all the world’s democracies.
The period, which lasts a third of a year, could bring about challenging issues, such as whether there should be a resignation en masse of the Cabinet, whether the military remains neutral, who the president-elect should nominate as premier and whether the incumbent president refrains from making major policy changes during the period, Lin said.
The DPP has a good reason to be worried, since Ma expressed the same concerns before taking office to the US in 2008 that then-president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) could resort to radical measures, such as declaration of martial law, according to leaked US diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks, Taiwan Brain Trust researcher Liu Shih-chung (劉世忠) said, adding that Tsai should immediately organize a task force to tackle the issue.
Ma and the public’s respect of democratic values would contribute to a peaceful transition of power, DPP Legislator Trong Chai (蔡同榮) said.
China’s attitude toward the election result also factors in, he said, adding that Beijing could try to coerce Taipei with military threats if it is not pleased with the results.
For a young democracy such as Taiwan, which faces a military threat from China, it is “unbelievable” that there is no legislation on presidential transition that could help ensure a smooth transition of power, said Lin Iong-sheng (林雍昇), a Taiwan Brain Trust researcher.
“At the end of the day, the public will be the final judge. If Taiwanese respect the true value of democracy, their voice will be able to keep politicians from doing anything irrational,” Lin said.