PROBLEMATIC: The proposed changes would lead to Kaohsiung being represented by fewer lawmakers, even though the number of city residents has not declined
Taipei Times
Date: Apr 18, 2018
By: Cheng Hung-ta and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with staff writer
The Central Election Committee’s planned adjustments to the allocation of legislative
Democratic Progressive Party legislators Chen Chi-mai, right, and Liu Shih-fang, fifth right, call on the government to suspend its plan to redraw the electoral constituency map at a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
seats for the 2020 election would exacerbate the north-south divide and aggravate legislative malapportionment, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers told a news conference yesterday, saying constitutional reform is the sole solution.
The committee on Feb. 1 announced plans to assign one additional seat for both Tainan and Hsinchu County, while taking away one seat each from Kaohsiung and Pingtung County.
The north-south divide refers to the unequal pace of development between more urbanized northern Taiwan and the rural south, while the issue of malapportionment refers to the suspicion that a majority of electoral constituencies have been assigned to certain areas to protect some communities of interest, she said.
The change would lead to fewer lawmakers representing Kaohsiung voters — eight lawmakers would represent 340,000 voters, instead of the current nine representing 300,000 voters — despite the city’s population not declining, she said. [FULL STORY]
