The nation is scheduled to elect mayors and city councilors in Taipei and four newly created special municipalities in December, pending revisions to relevant laws. The four new cities are: New Taipei City (formerly Taipei County), Taichung City (merged with Taichung County), Tainan City (merged with Tainan County), and Kaohsiung City (merged with Kaohsiung County).
As the ruling and opposition camps were sharply divided, the amendments were passed amid physical confrontations. In the end, the ruling Kuomintang version of the bill was passed, under which current township chiefs will be reappointed as district heads for a term of four years, with the exception of those charged with treason, corruption or vote buying. Acting chiefs and those who have served two terms will also be ruled out.
Under the revised act, township councilors will become unpaid district advisors, but will be entitled to transportation expenses and a stipend for attending meetings. No research stipends, however, will be given.
A preliminary count shows 108 township chiefs in the merged municipalities, with 52 excluded from reappointment. Of the remaining 56, 28 are KMT members, nine belong to the Democratic Progressive Party and 19 are independents.
The amended act also sets out the future number of city councilors: Taipei City, 60; New Taipei City, 62; Taichung City, 61; Tainan City, 55 and Kaohsiung City, 62. Each of the five municipalities will also be allotted indigenous lowland and highland representatives, as follows: Taipei City, one each; New Taipei City, one highland, three lowland; Taichung City, one each; Tainan City, one each; and Kaohsiung City, three highland, one lowland.
The extraordinary legislative session also passed a supplementary resolution stipulating that the electoral districts for city councilors in the special municipalities will be those existing before the structural reorganization. To simplify matters, all levels of elections will be merged, and the law was amended so that county magistrates, mayors, township chiefs and Taipei City borough chiefs will serve until Dec. 25, 2014, when new elections will be held for all positions. (THN)