Polls open for Taiwan leadership, legislature elections

TAIPEI -- Taiwan residents began voting in the island's leadership and legislature elections at 8 am Saturday and the polls will close at 4 pm.

Each eligible voter will cast one ballot for the leadership election and two ballots for the legislature election, one for a candidate representing the voter's electoral district and the other for a political party, according to the island's election commission.

Han Kuo-yu, the Kuomintang candidate, and his running mate Chang San-cheng, will compete in the leadership election with Democratic Progressive Party candidate Tsai Ing-wen and her running mate Lai Ching-te and James Soong, the People First Party candidate, and his running mate Sandra Yu.

The island's legislature has 113 seats, including 73 directly elected regional seats.

Voting results are expected to be announced on Saturday evening, according to the election commission.