cec.gov.tw Frequently Asked Questions FAQ Taiwan : Central Election Commission

Organization : Central Election Commission
Facility : Frequently Asked Questions FAQ
Country : Taiwan
Website : cec.gov.tw/english/cms/FAQS

FAQs :

1. What is the electoral system adopted for the Legislative Election?
Legislators serve for a term of 4 years. The electoral system is as follows :

Related / Similar Service : Central Election Commission Taiwan

District Legislators Election : Total 73 seats; each municipality, county or city has at least one seat. The seats are allocated according to the population of each municipality, county or city. The election adopts the plurality with single-member-district voting system.

Indigenous Legislators Election : Total 6 seats, including 3 lowland indigenous legislators and 3 high indigenous legislators. The election adopts the single-nontransferable voting system.

National-at-large Legislators (Party List PR) Election : Total 34 seats. Seats are proportionally allocated to the parties received more than 5% of the party votes. The election adopts the closed party list system.

2. What is the election management body in Taiwan? What are its powers?
Elections in Taiwan are conducted by the Central Election Commission (CEC), with 22 municipality, county, and city election commissions under its jurisdictions.

All elections are conducted on the basis of “Presidential and Vice Presidential Election and Recall Act” and “Civil Servants Election and Recall Act”, and under the principals of universality, fairness, directness, and secrecy.

During the election period, the municipality, county, and city election commissions will set up a total of 368 electoral operation centers in townships (cities / districts) to assist in electoral affairs.

The CEC has 11 commissioners, including one Chairman and one Vice Chairman. Each member of CEC is nominated and, with the consent of the Legislative Yuan, appointed by the Premier. Term length of each member shall be 4 years and renewable once.

The CEC is in charge of managing the Presidential and Legislative Elections. The CEC’s duties include : issuance of public notice for the elections, proceeding and planning electoral affairs, scheduling the date of Election Day, examining the candidates’ qualifications and the results of the election.

Under the supervision of the CEC, the municipality, county, and city election commissions will handle the following affairs : establishment and management of the polling stations, printing of the election ballots and election bulletin as well as directing and supervising the electoral operation centers to handle the distribution of election bulletin and the polling notice, and selection of staffs at polling stations

3. Who is eligible to vote?
Presidential Election :
** He/She must be a citizen of the Republic of China (ROC) and 20 years of age or older.
** He/She must reside in Taiwan for no less than 6 consecutive months.

** The citizen is not subject to the order of the commencement of guardianship.
** Those eligible who live in a foreign country may apply to come back to vote.

Legislative Election :
** He/She must be a citizen of the ROC and 20 years of age or older.
** He/She must reside in the corresponding electoral district for no less than 4 consecutive months.

** The citizen is not subject to the order of the commencement of guardianship.

4. Do citizens of Taiwan need to register to vote?
All eligible voters are registered by the household registration offices; hence, voters do not need to register to vote. The only exception being the overseas voters that are returning for the Presidential Election; they must submit an application to vote.

For all other public official elections, the household registration offices will complete the assignment of all eligible voters to their corresponding electoral districts based on their residency 20 days before the Election Day.

5. Who is eligible to be a presidential candidate?
Presidential candidates are nominated by political parties on a joint ticket or by citizen petition.

People who meet the following requirements can be nominated for the presidential election :
** He/She must be a citizen of the ROC and 40 years of age or older.
** He/She must reside in the ROC for no less than 6 consecutive months, with docmile for more than 15 years.

Restrictions on candidacy :
(people who have any of the following circumstances may not register as a candidate for the presidential election)

** Anyone who restores the ROC nationality or acquires the ROC nationality by naturalization or the people in the People’s Republic of China or the residents in Hong Kong and Macao who are permitted to enter Taiwan may not be registered as the candidate for president or vice president.

** A person that has been convicted of a specific offense by a court of law, declared bankruptcy, deprived of civil rights and has not been restored, and/or has become subject to the order of the commencement of guardianship or assistantship has not been cancelled yet.

** A military man in active service, a person handling election affairs, and/or is of foreign nationality.