Good morning and thank you for tuning in to CTS News.

I'm Cary Chuo.

In order to save up to 1 billion NT in government spending, lawmakers from both major parties are calling for a combination of next year's legislative election with the presidential election in early 2012. However, the Central Election Commission considers such a change unlikely at this point due to Constitutional restraints.

The special municipality mayor elections will be held at the end of the year, while the legislative and presidential elections will be held next year and in 2012, respectively.

The Central Election Commission estimates that the 2011 legislative elections will cost 1.15 billion NT, while the 2012 presidential elections will cost 1.27 billion NT.

Lawmakers are therefore calling for the two elections to be combined to save the nation 1 billion NT in expenses.

Some voters say that holding the two elections simultaneously would muddle the focus, while others say that it would be more convenient.

In reality, combining the elections would require a constitutional amendment as the Republic of China Constitution dictates that legislators enter office on February 1st and the president enters office on May 20th.

A constitutional amendment would require a proposal approved by at least one-fourth of the members of the Legislative Yuan, three-fourths of the quorum in attendance at the vote, and approval from three-fourths of the quorum.

If the amendment is passed by the Legislative Yuan, it then needs to be ratified by at least 50% of all eligible voters in a public referendum within six months.

Therefore, it is unlikely that an amendment can be passed before the legislative elections next year.

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