1st Ld-Writethru: Polls open for Taiwan leadership, legislature elections

Taiwan residents began voting in the island's leadership and legislature elections at 8 a.m. on Saturday and the polls will close at 4 p.m.

In a three-way race to become Taiwan's next leader, Eric Chu of the Kuomintang, the island's ruling party since 2008, is competing with major opposition Democratic Progressive Party chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen and the minority People First Party chairman James Soong.

Chu, Tsai and Soong cast ballots in New Taipei.

More than 15,000 polling stations are open across the island. About 18 million residents are eligible to vote for the island's next leader and members of the legislature but it is hard to estimate how many voters will turn up, according to the election commission.

In 2012, ballots were cast by just under three-quarters of potential voters.

After a rainy week, Taipei welcomed light sunshine on Saturday morning, which is expected to encourage more voters to come forward.

At a polling station in a small neighborhood of central Taipei, residents began lining up at the front door shortly after opening time. Several senior citizens queued in wheelchairs accompanied by family members while a young mother carried her baby.

"My biggest expectation of the new leader -- don't fight with the mainland," said a middle-aged voter who identified himself with the surname Liu.

Hsu Cheng-wen, a businessman who runs a company in the mainland, came home specially for the voting. "I care about cross-Strait relations the most. I hope the new leader will stick to the 1992 Consensus, which is the foundation for a favorable and stable cross-Strait ties," he said.

Hsiao Chih-ying, a 29-year-old electronic engineer, held a similar view. "I hope politicians do not provoke confrontation between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait and that Taiwan can continue to be open and inclusive," said Hsiao, who was to board a bus from Taipei to Hingchu to cast a ballot.

The voting was proceeding smoothly as of 11 a.m.

The legislature election is being held simultaneously, with 377 candidates running for 79 directly elected regional seats and seats for ethnic minority groups, and 179 candidates from 18 parties, the most ever, vying for 34 at-large seats. Taiwan's legislature has 113 seats.

Each eligible voter will cast two ballots in the legislature election -- one for a candidate representing the voter's district and the other for a political party to decide how many at-large seats each party can obtain.

Voting results will be announced before 10 p.m., according to the island's election commission. Endi