The election of the President and Vice President of the Republic of China (Taiwan) (Chinese: 中華民國總統、副總統選舉) is a direct election by the citizens of Taiwan. The most recent election took place on January 16, 2016.
The Presidential and Vice Presidential Election and Recall Act states that a candidate for President or Vice President must be an ROC citizen, at least 40 years old, and a resident of Taiwan for a period of no less than 15 years with physical presence for not less than 6 consecutive months. (The citizenship refers to household registration in the Free area of the Republic of China)
The following persons shall not be registered as candidates for the President:
Military personnel
Election officials
People who hold foreign nationality or who hold residency of the P.R.China (including Hong Kong and Macau)
People who restored their nationality or acquired nationality by neutralization
The President and Vice President are nominated on a joint ticket. Political parties which have gained at least 5% of the votes at the last presidential or legislature election may nominate a set of candidates directly. For the 2012 and 2016 elections, only Democratic Progressive Party and Kuomintang are qualified to nominate candidates through this rule in the elections of 2012 and 2016. Alternatively, candidates may be nominated by a petition signed by eligible voters numbering no less than 1.5% of electors at the last legislature election. (This equals 252,848 signatures for the 2012 election.)
