Government & politics — Taiwan

• history: previous 1912, 1931; latest adopted 25 December 1946, promulgated 1 January 1947,
• effective 25 December 1947 amendments: proposed by at least one fourth of the Legislative Yuan membership; passage requires approval by at least three-fourths majority vote of at least three fourths of the Legislative Yuan membership and approval in a referendum by more than half of eligible voters; revised several times, last in 2005

• President LAI Ching-te (since 20 May 2024) head of government: Premier CHO Jung-tai (
• President of the Executive Yuan) (since 20 May 2024) cabinet: Executive Yuan; ministers appointed by presid
• ent on recommendation of premier election/appointment process: president and vice president directly elected on the same ballot by simple-majority popular vote for a 4-year term (eligible for a second term); premier appointed by the president; vice premiers appointed by the president o
• n the recommendation of the premier most recent election date: 13
• January 2024 election results: 2024:LAI Ching-te elected president; percent of vote - LAI Ching-te (DPP) 40.1%, HOU Yu-ih (KMT) 33.5%, KO Wen-je (TPP) 26.5%) 2020: TSAI Ing-wen reelected president; percent of vote - TSAI Ing-wen (DPP) 57.1%, HAN Kuo-yu (KMT) 38.6%, James SOONG (PFP) 4.3%
• expected date of next election: 2028

Description

unicameral Legislative Yuan (113 seats; 73 members directly elected in single-seat constituencies by simple majority vote, 34 directly elected in a single island-wide constituency by proportional representation vote, and 6 directly elected in multi-seat aboriginal constituencies by proportional representation vote; members serve 4-year terms)

Elections

last held on 13 January 2024 (next to be held in 2028)

Election Results

• percent of vote by party - DPP 40.6%, KMT 37.2%, TPP 12.6%, other 5.7%, independent 3.9%
• seats by party - KMT 52, DPP 51, TPP 8, independent 2
• composition as of February 2024 - men 66, women 47, percentage women 41.6%

• highest court(s): Supreme Court (consists of the court president, vice president, and approximately 100 judges organized into civil and criminal panels, each with a chief justice and 4 associate justices); Constitutional Court (consists of the court president, vice president,
• and 13 justices) judge selection and term of office: Supreme Court justices appointed by the president; Constitutional Court justices appointed by the president, with approval of the Legislative Yuan; Supreme Court justices serve for life; Constitutional Court justices appointed for 8-year terms, with
• half the membership renewed every 4 years subordinate courts: high courts; district courts; hierarchy of administrative courts

Summary

includes main island of Taiwan plus smaller islands nearby and off coast of China's Fujian Province

Regions or States

• Taiwan is divided into 13 counties (xian
• singular and plural)
• 3 cities (shi
• singular and plural)
• and 6 special municipalities directly under the jurisdiction of the Executive Yuan counties: Changhua
• Chiayi
• Hsinchu
• Hualien
• Kinmen
• Lienchiang
• Miaoli
• Nantou
• Penghu
• Pingtung
• Taitung
• Yilan
• Yunlin cities: Chiayi
• Hsinchu
• Keelung special municipalities: Kaohsiung (city)
• New Taipei (city)
• Taichung (city)
• Tainan (city)
• Taipei (city)
• Taoyuan (city) note: Taiwan uses a variety of romanization systems; while a modified Wade-Giles system still dominates
• the city of Taipei has adopted a Pinyin romanization for street and place names within its boundaries; other local authorities use different romanization systems

• Democratic Progressive Party or DPP [LAI Ching-te]
• Kuomintang or KMT (Nationalist Party) [Eric CHU Li-luan]
• Taiwan People's Party or TPP [KO Wen-je]
• Note: the DPP and the KMT are the two major political parties; more than 30 parties garnered votes in the 2024 election

• 20 years of age
• universal
• note - in March 2022, the Legislative Yuan approved lowering the voting age to 18, but the change will require a constitutional amendment that must be submitted to a referendum

• no citizenship by descent only: at least one p
• arent must be a citizen of Taiwan dual citizenship recognized: yes, except that citizens of Taiwan are not recognized as dual citizens of the People'
• s Republic of China residency requirement for naturalization: 5 years

chief of mission

the US does not have an embassy in Taiwan; commercial and cultural relations with the people of Taiwan are maintained through an unofficial instrumentality, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), a private nonprofit corporation that performs citizen and consular services similar to those at diplomatic posts; it is managed by Director Sandra OUDKIRK (since July 2021) mailing address: 4170 AIT Taipei Place, Washington DC 20521-4170

telephone

[886] 2-2162-2000

FAX

[886] 2-2162-2251

Email address and website

• TaipeiACS@state.gov
• https://www.ait.org.tw/

chief of mission

none; commercial and cultural relations with its citizens in the US are maintained through an unofficial instrumentality, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the United States (TECRO), a private nonprofit corporation that performs citizen and consular services similar to those at diplomatic posts, represented by HSIAO Bi-khim (since 20 July 2020); office: 4201 Wisconsin Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20016;

telephone

[1] (202) 895-1800;

fax

[1] (202) 363-0999 Taipei Economic and Cultural Offices (branch offices): Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Denver (CO), Houston, Honolulu, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, San Francisco, Seattle