Taiwan: President, 16 January 2016

At stake in this election:     

• The office of President of Taiwan

Description of government structure:

• Chief of State: President Ma YING-JEOU (since 20 May 2008)
• Head of Government: Premier Mao CHI-KUO (since 8 December 2014)
• Assembly: Taiwan has a unicameral Legislative Yuan with 113 seats

Description of electoral system:

• The President is elected by simple majority popular vote to serve a 4-year term.
• The Premier is appointed by the President.
• In the Legislative Yuan, 73 members are elected by simple majority vote in single-member constituencies to serve 4-year terms, 34 members are elected by proportional representation vote in a single island-wide constituency (including overseas compatriots) to serve 4-year terms*, and 6 members are elected by proportional representation vote in multi-seat aboriginal constituencies to serve 4-year terms.

*For these seats, voters select political parties, and members of the Legislative Yuan are then chosen based on candidate lists provided by political parties. Additionally, only parties that receive at least 5% of the vote are allocated seats, and at least half of the seats won by each party must be filled by female candidates.

Main Candidates in the Presidential race:

• Candidate: Eric CHU
  • Party: Chinese Nationalist Party / Kuomintang (KMT)
• Candidate: Tsai ING-WEN
  • Party: Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)
• Candidate: James SOONG   
  • Party: People First Party (PFP)

Population and number of registered voters:

• Population: 23,415,126 (2015 est.)[1]
• Registered voters: 18,090,295 (2012)[2]

Gender Data:

• Female Population: 11,707,563 (2015 est.)[3]
• Is Taiwan a signatory to CEDAW: N/A[4]
• Has Taiwan ratified CEDAW: N/A[5]
• Gender Quota:  Yes[6]
• Female Candidates in this election: Yes
• Number of Female Legislators: 37 (33%) of 113 seats in the Legislative Yuan[7]
• Human Development Index (HDI) Position: N/A[8]
• Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) Categorization: N/A[9]

Disability Data:

• Is Taiwan a signatory to CRPD: N/A[10]
• Has Taiwan ratified CRPD: N/A[11]
• Population with a disability: 3,512,269 (2015 est.)[12]

[1]  https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/tw.html   

[2]  http://www.electionguide.org/elections/id/1619/  

[3] https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/tw.html

[4] https://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=IV-8&chapter=4&lang=en

[5] https://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=IV-8&chapter=4&lang=en

[6]  http://www.idea.int/gender/quotas_special_areas.cfm?country=226

[7]  http://www.idea.int/gender/quotas_special_areas.cfm?country=226

[8] http://hdr.undp.org/en/content/table-1-human-development-index-and-its-components

[9] http://genderindex.org/countries

[10] https://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=iv-15&chapter=4&lang=en

[11] https://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=iv-15&chapter=4&lang=en

[12] http://www.electionaccess.org/en/resources/countries/