| Summary: | 碩士 === 長榮大學 === 高階管理碩士在職專班(EMBA) === 105 === Special municipality and county/city council are authorities enforced in accordance with the Local Government Act Article 54(1) and the Local Legislative Organizational Guidelines Article 3(1). According to the Local Government Act Article 44(1) and the Local Legislative Organizational Guidelines Article 11(1), one speaker and one vice speaker are elected or recalled by councilors. Local council is responsible for supervising city government and promoting overall development. Speaker, as the leader, is in charge of facilitating the authorities of local council. The harmonious cooperation and effective communication between city government and among councilors rely heavily on speaker’s involvement and influence. Therefore, speaker’s election has drawn tremendous media attention around the island, serving as key indicators of rise and fall of local political parties. (Appendix 3-4: Regulations of Local Governmental System)
Recently, there have been rumors regarding bribery or displaying secret ballots during the election of speaker and vice speaker. The 2014 election of Tainan City Council speaker and vice speaker was said to be involved with bribery and several city councilors were thus under investigation. What was worse, the speaker’s election was found invalid. Accordingly, the Legislative Yuan proposed “Amendment to Local Government Act Article 44,” which turns “secret ballot” to “open ballot” in election of chairperson and vice chairperson ranging from special municipality to local representatives.
The research aims to analyze the controversy arising from the electoral system of local council speaker and vice speaker, exploring the controversial election of Tainan City Council speaker and vice speaker in 2014 as a case study. According to the studies, while open ballot could be considered a great leap in democracy by making local council “open and transparent,” it is not an effective means to curb bribery. With effective nomination system, speaker’s neutral status and transparency of council management, not only will party politics and politics of accountability gain momentum in constitutional democracy, but illegal dealings will be effectively eliminated.
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