The current Additional Articles of the Constitution entail 12 articles: ; Article 1: Referendum on amendment to the Constitution and alteration of the national territory. ; Article 2:
President and the
vice president. ; Article 3:
Premier and the
Executive Yuan. ; Article 4:
Legislative Yuan. ; Article 5:
Judicial Yuan. ; Article 6:
Examination Yuan. ; Article 7:
Control Yuan. ; Article 8: Remuneration and pay of the members of the
Legislative Yuan. ; Article 9:
Local governments. ; Article 10: Fundamental national policy. ; Article 11:
Cross-Strait relations (rights and obligations between people of the
free area and
mainland China). ; Article 12: Procedure for amending the Constitution.
Free area The territory controlled by the
Government of the Republic of China changed significantly after the
Chinese Civil War, and the Republic of China could not hold
elections in territories it did not control. Thus, the Additional Articles of the Constitution defines the
Free Area (;
Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: ) to be the territory and the people under the
government's effective jurisdiction. Whilst all residents of China are nominally citizens of the Republic, only the citizens who have the
household registration in Taiwan may exercise the full civil and political rights, including
right of abode and
suffrage.
Direct presidential election The Additional Articles requires
direct election of the
President by the citizens of the
free area. The first
direct presidential election was held in 1996. Under the original constitution, the
President was elected
indirectly by the
National Assembly.
Government reform and reorganization The Additional Articles of the Constitution reformed the
government of the Republic of China from a
parliamentary system to a
de facto semi-presidential system. The
National Assembly is
de facto abolished, and its functions are exercised directly by the citizens of the
Free area. The five-power governmental structure is retained, though it functions closer to the traditional Western
trias politica in practice.
Constitutional referendum A 2005 amendment regarding on referendum stated that a
constitutional amendment or an alteration of the national territory has to be ratified by more than half (50%) of voters of the Free Area in a
referendum after passed in the
Legislative Yuan with a
three-quarters majority. Before that,
constitutional amendments and national territory alterations were ratified by the
National Assembly. == Comparison of the governmental structure ==