The first National Assembly was to serve for a period of only six years. However, according to the Kuomintang (KMT) leadership, the fall of the Mainland made it impossible to hold new elections there, as all Mainland provinces were under "Communist rebellion". As a result, the Judicial Yuan decided that the original members of the National Assembly representing Communist-controlled constituencies must continue to hold office until new elections could be held. National Assembly elections were still held in territories under ROC control.