Taiwan's Central Election Commission Reduces Local Election Deposits

Central News Agency, Lai Yu-hsien, Taipei, July 17 - Ahead of the upcoming 'Nine-in-One' elections, the Central Election Commission (CEC) passed a motion today to reduce local election deposits. The deposit for candidates for special municipality mayors has been lowered from 1.5 million TWD to 1.2 million TWD. The deposit for special municipality councilors and county/city mayors has been reduced from 200,000 TWD to 160,000 TWD, while the deposit for county/city councilors has been lowered from 120,000 TWD to 100,000 TWD.

The 'Nine-in-One' elections are scheduled for November 28. During a commission meeting today, the CEC reviewed and approved the deposit amounts for candidates in this year's local elections, which will be specified in the official registration notice.

In a post-meeting press release, the CEC stated that in order to appropriately set registration deposit amounts and protect citizens' right to participate in politics, it held a 'Public Hearing on Local Public Official Election Registration Deposit Amounts' in June. Representatives from academia, political parties, the Ministry of the Interior, municipal governments, city councils, and election commissions were invited to provide feedback.

The CEC noted that it decided to adjust the amounts because existing barriers were seen as too high, hindering participation by youth, small parties, and the economically disadvantaged.

The CEC mentioned that the deposit for special municipality mayor candidates was previously adjusted from 2 million to 1.5 million TWD in 2022. However, deposits for county/city mayors and councilors had not been adjusted since 1994. This marks the first major adjustment in 32 years, representing an important milestone in Taiwan's election administration reform.

Additionally, the commission approved a total of 919 seats for special municipality and county/city councilors this year, an increase of 9 seats from the current count. The official election notice is expected to be released on August 20.

Regions with changes in councilor seats include New Taipei City, Taoyuan City, Changhua County, Yunlin County, Keelung City, and Hsinchu City. New Taipei City has the highest number of seats at 68, followed by Taoyuan, Taichung, and Kaohsiung with 65 each. The fewest seats are found in the outlying islands: 9 for Lienchiang County, and 19 each for Penghu and Kinmen counties.