Martial law, among other things, included sedition laws against supporters of communism or Taiwanese independence, leading to very substantial political repression. It also prohibited the formation of new parties (though opposition figures could run as independents or tangwai). Second, because of the ROC's claim to rule all of China, the vast majority of the seats in the Legislative Yuan (parliament) and National Assembly (electoral college for the president, now abolished) were held by those elected from mainland China constituencies in 1947 and 1948. The regime argued that these legislators should keep their seats until elections in their original constituencies were possible. Although supplemental elections that increased the ethnically Taiwanese representation in these bodies were held starting in 1969, the huge majorities of senior legislators continued through 1990, guaranteeing KMT control whether or not the party won on election day. More informally, the long-term residents of Taiwan prior to the late 1940s remained distinctly under-represented in the top ranks of government and the party through the early 1990s, suggesting a significant limit to democratization.