TAIPEI: Voting in Taiwan’s presidential and legislative elections opened at 8 am Saturday, with voting permitted until 4 pm, as voters visited polling stations around Taiwan to cast their ballots, Taiwan’s Central News Agency (CNA) reported.
There are three presidential tickets: the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) presidential candidate Ko Wen Je and his running mate Wu Hsin Ying, the ruling Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) presidential candidate Lai Ching Te, who is also the incumbent vice president, and his running mate Hsiao Bi Khim and the Kuomintang’s (KMT) presidential candidate Hou Yu Ih and his running mate Jaw Shau Kong.
In addition to the presidential and vice presidential election, a total of 113 legislative seats are also being contested, including 73 district lawmakers directly elected by voters, six indigenous lawmakers chosen by indigenous voters, and 34 legislators-at-large selected based on a separate vote for a political party.
Sixteen political parties, such as the DPP, KMT and TPP, are competing for the 34 legislator-at-large seats, which are allocated to parties that receive no less than 5 per cent of the total party vote.
About 19.55 million voters in Taiwan or more than 83 per cent of the total population are eligible to cast a ballot in the elections Saturday, with the six largest cities -- Taipei, New Taipei, Taoyuan, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung -- accounting for almost 70 per cent of the total.
A total of 17,795 polling stations opened at 8 am around Taiwan and will close at 4 pm, with votes immediately counted and reported to the local and central election authorities soon after.
The president and vice president will be sworn in on May 20, while elected legislators are sworn in on Feb 1.
In 2020, President Tsai Ing Wen of the DPP and her running mate Lai secured more than 8.17 million votes or 57.13 per cent of the votes, defeating the KMT’s Han Kuo Yu and Chang San Cheng ticket (5.52 million votes or 38.61 per cent), and the People First Party’s pairing of James Soong and Yu Hsiang (608,590 votes or 4.26 per cent).-Bernama
