Half of the nation's voters are unaware that the election of National Assembly representatives will be held on May 14, and as many as 82 percent are confused about the stance of political parties on constitutional reform, according to a poll released yesterday.

The survey, commissioned by Taiwan Advocates, has led academics to wonder if the constitutional amendments might not be viable in the current political climate.

Around 33 percent said the "single-member district, two-vote system" neglected the voices of minority groups and that the new electoral system would only benefit the major parties.

About 82 percent said the amendments should be voted for individually. Only 8.5 percent supported voting for amendments as a single package.

The amendments include a downsizing bill that would cut the number of legislative seats from 225 to 113 from 2008, and extend legislative terms from three to four years. The bill also proposes a new electoral system known as the "single-member district, two-vote system" to replace the existing "multi-member district, single-vote system."

The third bill would make the Referendum Law (公民投票法) part of the Constitution, and the fourth bill would abolish the existence of the National Assembly after all the other amendments are passed.

Shih Cheng-feng (施正鋒), a professor at Tamkang University's department of public administration, said he was surprised that so many people were unaware of the details of the election, and he urged former Democratic Progressive Party chairman Lin Yi-hsiung (林義雄) -- the leader of the Nuke-4 Referendum Initiative Association, a leading advocate of constitutional reforms -- to explain the reasons for promoting constitutional reform.

"Revising the Constitution is not only an issue of integrity but also an important issue that impacts on the stability of the system of governance," Shih said. "However, many civic groups followed Lin's views without understanding the significance of the reforms, and most legislators dared not oppose their appeals for fear they would be accused of being `anti-reform.' So the constitutional amendments were passed in a hasty manner last August."