20101129 Democracy does not end at the ballot box

Democracy does not end at the ballot box

By Ku Chung-hwa 顧忠華

For the five special municipality elections — mayor, city council and borough chief elections — on Saturday, the streets were filled with banners showing that competition in the city councilor and borough chief elections was no less intense than that in the mayoral elections.

According to data from the Central Election Commission, a total of 647 candidates were running for 314 city councilor seats. Another 7,254 candidates were running for 3,758 borough chief seats. This clearly shows the competition in elections at all levels, as well as the vitality of Taiwan’s democracy.

However, before the elections, the Ministry of Justice received more than 2,700 complaints and detained more than 100 suspects for electoral crimes. We hope that the authorities can promptly and effectively stop this unhealthy trend, which often involves money and violence. If not, once politicians are elected through illegitimate means, it may be too late to propose anti-corruption measures to deter them. Not to mention that the “sunshine bill” promised by President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) is still being held up in the legislature.

When designing a constitutional democracy, the balance of power is a key mechanism for preventing corruption. The legislative branch is responsible for monitoring the executive branch on behalf of the public, while the judicial branch is responsible for defending judicial independence in complete disregard of political affiliation.

The experience of advanced democracies shows that public awareness is the crucial force required to establish a truly effective monitoring mechanism. As Taiwan’s civil society booms, the role that it plays in consolidating and deepening democracy is becoming increasingly clear. This is especially true when it comes to public monitoring of the performance of elected representatives and their accountability, an area in which much has been accomplished in recent years.

The situation in the past when voters were the “masters of the nation” only on election day and helpless when it came to restraining the unreasonable behavior of their representatives once elected is gradually being reversed.

For example, the legislature decided to adjourn for four days during election week so that lawmakers could go back to their hometowns and participate in campaign rallies for local representatives. However, the Constitution does not give lawmakers the right to adjourn for the purpose of campaigning, and therefore the Citizen Congress Watch sent a letter to the legislature calling on lawmakers to donate four days worth of salaries in order to meet the fundamental rule that legislators should not work to benefit themselves.

The Democratic Progressive Party’s caucus responded to the call in positive terms when it announced that it would donate NT$800,000 to three charity groups. The organization immediately expressed its appreciation in recognition of this. Although some Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers also donated their salaries, it was regretful to see that their caucus was unwilling to take collective action.

The above example shows that the exercise of civic rights involves more than merely casting a ballot. It includes constantly monitoring whether civil servants and elected representatives have performed the duties they have been entrusted with by the public.

Voters in the five special municipalities should keep their eyes open after the elections to monitor those who were elected. Together, they can help foster a mature and responsible democracy in Taiwan.

Ku Chung-hwa is chairman of the Citizen Congress Watch.