Smaller Parties Look to Change Election Deposit Rules|小黨瞄準年底選戰 誓言改善高額保證金制度

Many smaller parties have also begun promoting their own campaigns. The Social Democratic Party called on the government to publish all meeting footage for the public to see, and an emerging group called the O-Ba-Sang alliance, which means female senior citizens, and consists of full-time mothers and school teachers, will also field 21 candidates in hopes to improve the current election system.


The candidates hold up a piece of black cloth and gesture to break it. The act is a symbolism to abolish under-the-table deals. Members of the Social Democratic Party and of the Citizens Congress Watch held a press conference in front of the Taipei City Council. They denounce the lack of transparency of meetings held at the council, and call on the public to pay attention to smaller political parties like them.

We sent official letters to call city councils asking for them to provide transparent data and information of the meetings. We are sorry to say that Taipei City Council is one of the five councils that did not provide any information.

Earlier in August, the Citizen Congress Watch conducted a survey on the transparency of city councils across Taiwan. Although the Taipei City Council displays a higher level of transparency than others, filming city councilors during meetings still requires approval from the head of the meeting. The Social Democratic Party therefore calls for the meeting records to be available for all members of the public.

If we can for a legitimate political party, we will advocate for the adjustment of regulations on the video record of (meetings held at) the Taipei City Council.

Another smaller political group, called the O-Ba-Sang Alliance, consists of full-time mothers and elementary school teachers. They plan to elect 21 of their own candidates to run for city councilors. The O-Ba-Sang Alliance previously protested outside the Central Election Commission against the prerequisite of a NT$ 200,000 payment for anyone who wishes to run for city councilor. Chang Shu-Hui, the party's convener, also said that they aim to remove the financial barrier in the future.

We are looking to remove the political barrier. It's not enough to just hold press conferences in front of the Central Election Commission. We have put together the sum (for our candidates) this time, but four years later, we'll have to do this again (for the next election).

Members of the O-Ba-Sang Alliance believe the barrier in the current election system prevents those on the grass root level to get involved in the city councils. It also limits the choice of political candidates. As the year-end local elections are quickly approaching, the emerging smaller parties are hoping to add more dimension to Taiwan's democracy.