Introducing Citizen Congress Watch

Citizen Congress Watch (CCW) was established in 2007, set up by almost 50 nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in Taiwan. CCW continues to promote transparency in the Legislative Yuan (LY) and initiate various congressional reforms. This includes work to deepen democracy by publishing professional and comprehensive evaluation reports on legislators every six months, organizing and offering training for congress-monitoring volunteers and LY contact persons from other NGOs, developing the Congress in Taiwan board game, and organizing courses and lectures on understanding congress.

CCW helps establish and connect regional parliamentary oversight groups. It has also formed and maintained the operations of the National Parliamentary Oversight Alliance. CCW holds international parliamentary evaluation workshops and strengthens relationships with other international organizations by cooperating and exchanging experiences to promote a civilized, positive, transparent, and efficient congress that works for the public interest. 

CCW has consistently overseen and evaluated legislators through four terms of the LY for 15 years. As of today, the LY has demonstrated significant and comprehensive improvement. Advancements include an increase in the rate of each legislators’ attendance and oral interpellation, complete live broadcasting of parliamentary proceedings, open consultations between political parties, a congress television channel, and requiring legislators to declare benefits that involve conflicts of interest.

To promote reform of the LY and deepen Taiwan’s democracy, CCW not only monitors the performance of legislators, but is also dedicated to improving every aspect of democratic governance. These include increasing LY accountably to voters, voters’ involvement in parliamentary procedures, and information accessibility in relation to the congress and its operation.

(01/25/2022 Press conference on “Declare speaker of county and city councilors’ property online! Boycott money faction politics!”)

(03/24/2022 Visit to the President of Legislative Yuan, You Si-kuan to exchange opinions on the topic of Congress reform.)

CCW took a more active role in participating in international affairs by successively organizing the International Symposium on Congressional Reform and Oversight and the Asian Pacific Congress International Oversight Forum. CCW also invited national and international political scholars to conduct seminars, allowing Taiwan to raise global awareness of its strong democratic foundation and the power of people.

Furthermore, CCW joined the most important election observing organization in Asia – the Asian Network for Free Elections (ANFREL) and is its only member from Taiwan. CCW has repeatedly supported election observation missions in Asian countries and assisted ANFEREL in conducting election observations in Taiwan.