Taipei, Jan. 13 (CNA) Voting in Taiwan’s presidential and legislative elections opened at 8 a.m. Saturday, with voting permitted until 4 p.m., as voters visited polling stations around Taiwan to cast their ballots.
There are three presidential tickets: the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) presidential candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) and his running mate Wu Hsin-ying (吳欣盈), the ruling Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) presidential candidate Lai Ching-te (賴清德), who is also the incumbent vice president, and his running mate Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴), and the Kuomintang’s (KMT) presidential candidate Hou Yu-ih (侯友宜) and his running mate Jaw Shau-kong (趙少康).
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 percent of the total party vote.
About 19.55 million voters in Taiwan or more than 83 percent 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 percent of the total.
A total of 17,795 polling stations opened at 8 a.m. around Taiwan and will close at 4 p.m., with votes immediately counted and reported to the local and central election authorities soon after.
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In 2020, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) of the DPP and her running mate Lai secured more than 8.17 million votes or 57.13 percent of the votes, defeating the KMT’s Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) and Chang San-cheng (張善政) ticket (5.52 million votes or 38.61 percent), and the People First Party’s pairing of James Soong and Yu Hsiang (余湘) (608,590 votes or 4.26 percent).
The DPP also won a majority of seats in the 2020 legislative election, with 61, while the KMT won 38, the TPP five, the New Power Party three and the Taiwan Statebuilding Party won one, with an additional five seats going to independent candidates.
Voter turnout was 74.90 percent for the presidential election, 75.13 percent for the district lawmaker elections, and 74.86 percent for the legislator-at-large vote.
The Central Election Commission reminded voters heading to the polls to take their national identification cards, personal seals and election notification with them.
Voters are required to turn off their mobile phones and barred from taking cameras into polling stations when they cast their ballots. Anyone who breaches those rules will face a fine ranging from NT$30,000 (US$964) to NT$300,000.
The commission said the results of the elections are expected later in the evening.
The CEC announced the vote count in 2020 at 10:33 p.m. on election day, Jan. 11.
The president and vice president will be sworn in on May 20, while elected legislators are sworn in on Feb. 1.