Taiwan people went to the polls Saturday to select the 113 members of "legislative Yuan" (the island's "parliament").

Nearly 300 candidates are competing for the parliamentary seats in more than 70 districts across the island.

Voters will cast two ballots -- one for a specific candidate in their district and another for the party of their choice.

Taiwan's "legislative Yuan" has been streamlined from 225 seats to 113 in an effort to improve efficiency.

Personages like former Kuomintang chairman Lien Chan had attracted considerable media attention when they went to polling stations to cast their votes.

According to the rules, voters are prohibited from taking cell phones or cameras with them in the polling stations or they will be fined from 30,000 to 300,000 Taiwan dollars (about 938 to 9,375 U.S. dollars).

Polling stations were to close at 4:00 p.m. Saturday, with ballot counting to begin immediately afterwards. The result is expected to come out around 10:30 p.m.
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(Xinhua News Agency January 12, 2008)