Taipei, Dec. 4 (CNA) The three presidential candidates and their running mates contesting Taiwan’s 2024 presidential election all comply with national regulations, such as citizenship requirements, and are eligible to run, the Ministry of Interior (MOI) said Monday.
The MOI checked the qualifications and requirements of the presidential and vice presidential candidates at the request of the Central Election Commission (CEC) in accordance with the law, including their nationality status.
The CEC is reviewing candidate qualifications and is scheduled to finalize the list of presidential and vice presidential candidates by Tuesday and announce the official roster on Dec. 15.
The three tickets that have registered for Taiwan’s presidential election on Jan. 13, 2024 are Lai Ching-te (賴清德) and Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party, Hou Yu-ih (侯友宜) and Jaw Shau-kong (趙少康) of the main opposition Kuomintang, and Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) and Wu Hsin-ying (吳欣盈) of the smaller Taiwan People’s Party (TPP).
It was not immediately clear if the MOI’s judgment was the final word on the nationality issue. Though the MOI confirmed that all six candidates met Republic of China (Taiwan) citizenship requirements, it made no mention of possible dual nationality issues.
Wu, the TPP’s vice presidential candidate, has been recently dogged by allegations that she had not relinquished her United States citizenship.
If true, that would disqualify her for the election because candidates for political office in Taiwan are not allowed to hold dual nationality.
Wu said on Nov. 30 via a Facebook post that she had already renounced her U.S. citizenship, but has not publicly presented a document confirming that.
Questions had also arisen over whether the DPP’s Hsiao, who was born in Japan and lived in the U.S. for some of her childhood, had always been an ROC citizen, given that people who are naturalized or who regained citizenship after giving it up cannot hold office.
The MOI did not find anything wrong, however, with Hsiao’s citizenship status.