Candidates for two major opposition parties in Taiwan have registered for the January presidential election, after talks to form a joint ticket failed. The founder of Hon Hai Precision Industry, Terry Gou, did not file.

The Central Election Commission in Taipei closed the five-day application period on Friday at 5:30 pm, local time.

Former Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je of the second largest opposition group, the Taiwan People's Party, filed his candidacy earlier in the day. He was accompanied by vice presidential candidate Wu Hsin-ying.

Mayor of New Taipei City, Hou Yu-ih, of the largest opposition party Kuomintang, also registered, along with running mate Jaw Shau-kong.

The two parties had agreed to back a unified presidential candidate last week, but failed to agree on who that would be.

The TPP's Ko said the deal was supposed to be aimed at winning the election, so the stronger pair should have been chosen.

Kuomintang's Hou said a call to Ko in a last-ditch hope that they could cooperate went unanswered.

Taiwan's Vice President Lai Ching-te filed his candidacy on Tuesday as a candidate for the ruling Democratic Progressive Party.

The election will be a three-way race. Gou, founder of tech giant Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn, did not register despite qualifying to run as an independent.