民國九十年底立法委員選舉時，「立委席次減半」成為立選主要訴求之一，反映人民對於立委人數在民國八十六年修憲後增加為225人的反感。從歐美經驗觀察，經濟合作發展組織國家的國會議員人數，基於委員會及院會運作之考慮，有下限150人上限660人的情形，而大部分的中型國家(人口1,500萬人至9,000萬人)則約每十萬人產生一位國會議員。國會議員人數反映國家人口數，也反映憲體制、國會院會、委員會運作之實際需要。從不同因素加以考慮，我國立法委員人數並未明顯偏高，席次減少固可考慮，席次減半則可能導致少數壟斷、委員會人數不足等問題。受到詬病的立法院議事不彰現象源自於立委品質，而立委品質問題源自於選舉制度，並非立委席次減半所能解決。

　　　　　"Cutting the size of the Legislative Yuan in half" was an appealing platform during Taiwan's 2001 parliamentary election. The slogan strongly reflected the public's aversion to disorder in the parliament and the parliament's increased size (to 225) after a 1997 constitutional amendment. This paper, based on a review of OECD experiences, maintains that for a country that has more than five million people there are upper and lower limits to the size of the parliament. The reasons behind the various models of parliamentary size are discussed. It is then argued that the size of the Legislative Yuan should not be blamed for the inefficiency of the body. Rather, the electoral system of the single nontransferable vote (SNTV) is the cause of the undesirable legislative composition and the disputed legislative performance. Before any drastic reduction in the size of the Legislative Yuan is made, the potential negative impact of such a move on the adequate functioning of the parliamentary committee system needs to the considered.