General Information
At stake in this election:
- The office of President of Taiwan
Description of government structure:
- Chief of State: President CHEN Shui-bian
- Head of Government: Premier Chun-hsiung CHANG
- Assembly: Taiwan has a unicameral Legislative Yuan with 113 seats.
Description of electoral system:
- The President is elected by popular vote to serve a 4-year term.
- In the Legislative Yuan, 73 members are elected by simple majority vote in single-member constituencies to serve 4-year terms, 6 members are reserved from districts to serve 4-year terms and 34 members are elected through a party-list proportional representation system to serve 4-year terms.***
*** Members of the Legislative Yuan are elected through a mixed member proportional system. 73 seats are elected from constituencies, 6 reserved for the representation of indigenous people, and 34 members from at-large seats.
Main Candidates in the Presidential race:
- HSIEH Frank
- Party: Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)
- MA Ying-jeou
- Party: Nationalist Party / Kuomintang (KMT)
Population and number of registered voters:
- Population: 22,858,872 (July 2007 est.)
- Registered Voters: 17,321,622 (March 2008 )