ELECTION OF COUNCILORS

ELECTION QUOTA OF COUNCIL MEMBERS
      In accordance with the law, council members of Taipei are elected by citizens according to the following quotas: If the population exceeds 1.25 million but is less than 1.5 million, no more than 44 councilors may be elected. If the population exceeds 1.5 million, the number of council members in Taipei may not exceed a total of fifty-two seats. In the municipal election held in December of 2006, fifty-two councilors were elected to the Tenth Council of Taipei by Taipei's more than 2.6 million residents, from out of six electoral districts in the city. Of the fifty-two seats, one is reserved for the aboriginal community because the present aboriginal population of 10,263 exceeds the minimal population quota of 4,000 for one aboriginal seat.

NUMBER OF SEATS RESERVED FOR WOMEN COUNCILORS
      For every four seats in an electoral district, one is reserved for a female council member. Presently, among the fifty-two council members of Taipei, there are seventeen women councilors. During the 2002 municipal election, each electoral district had an average of more than one woman candidate, thus increasing the probability of more women being elected. As a result, the women councilors of this current term never needed to apply the policy that guarantees at least 1/4 of the seats are given to women.

DURATION OF TERMS
      Taipei city councilors are elected once every four years, and may serve multiple terms if reelected. Newly elected council members are inaugurated at the termination of the previous term. This Ninth Council was inaugurated on December 25, 2006 and the term will last until December 25, 2010.

SUPPLEMENTARY ELECTIONS
      If more than thirty percent of council members on the floor or more than one half within the same precinct leave the position through resignation, termination of employment, or death, a supplementary election will be held. If the term period remaining of the term is less than two years and the vacancies are less than half of the total seats, no supplementary election will be held.

SPEAKER AND DEPUTY SPEAKER'S ELECTIONS
      On the day of the inauguration, the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker are elected from out of the fifty-two council members. The Tenth City Council was inaugurated on December 25, 2006, and at that time, Ms. Bi-chu Wu and Mr. Chin-hsiang Chen were elected to be the Speaker and Deputy Speaker respectively for the Tenth City Council of Taipei.