Under Articles 54, 55, Paragraph 1, and 56 of the Constitution, the Executive Yuan establishes a premier, a vice-premier, some ministers, and a certain number of ministers without portfolio. The premier is appointed by the President with the consent of the Legislative Yuan. The vice-premier, ministers, and ministers without portfolio are nominated by the premier and appointed by the President. Under Article 57 of the Constitution, the premier is accountable to the Legislative Yuan. Since the premier has to receive consent from and be politically accountable to the Legislative Yuan, the premier has to resign before the first session of each new Legislative Yuan so as to fulfill the doctrine of government by the people and his/her political accountability. Because the vice premier, ministers, and ministers without portfolio are nominated by the premier and appointed by the President, and because all of them are members of the Executive Yuan Council, they participate in administrative policy-making and have to step down when the premier resigns.

       Under Article 57 of the Constitution, the Executive Yuan is accountable to the Legislative Yuan. Politics in a democracy mainly involves popular politics and accountability politics. The legitimacy of a modern state to establish its government and to implement its administrative affairs is based on the will of the people. When legislators are re-elected at the end of their terms, the highest executive organ, which is in charge of carrying out administrative affairs, has to be re-organized so as to keep pace with the expressed will of the people and to fulfill the doctrine of democratic politics.

       Under Articles 54, 55, Paragraph 1, and 56 of the Constitution, the Executive Yuan establishes a premier, a vice-premier, some ministers, and a certain number of ministers without portfolio; the premier is appointed by the President with the consent of the Legislative Yuan. The vice-premier, ministers, and ministers without portfolio are nominated by the premier and appointed by the President. Under Article 57 of the Constitution, the Executive Yuan is responsible for submitting a statement of its administrative policies and a report on its administration. When the Executive Yuan does not agree with the bills passed by the legislators and demands a second decision, the premier has to accept the bill or resign. The premier is appointed by the President with the consent of the Legislative Yuan. Accordingly, the premier is politically accountable to the Legislative Yuan. This is the institutional design of our constitution, which concerns the relationships among the President, the Executive Yuan, and the Legislative Yuan. Based on the doctrine of government by the people and because the appointment of the premier is confirmed by the Legislative Yuan, the premier has to resign prior to the first session of each new Legislative Yuan. Through this mechanism, the President is able to review the new political situations after the re-election of legislators, and then appoint a new premier with the consent of the Legislative Yuan, so as to reflect the expressed will of the people.　　Under Article 58 of the Constitution, the vice-premier, ministers, and ministers without portfolio are nominated by the premier and appointed by the President. Their nomination reflects the premier*s political ideology. Since they attend the Executive Yuan Council and participate in policy-making, they have to resign along with the premier so as to manifest their accountability. Nonetheless, the heads of sub-organs in the Executive Yuan are not ministers without portfolio. Their resignation has to accord with ordinary administrative procedures, which may be provided by other laws and is not influenced by the resignation of the premier.

*Translated by Professor Tsung-Fu Chen.