Taiwanese cry foul as leader wins after attack
March 22, 2004 Edition -1
Michael Kramer
Taipei: Taiwan's high court sealed ballot boxes yesterday as defeated candidate Lien Chan demanded a recount in the island's closest-ever presidential election and an inquiry into an attack on the president that swung the vote.
There may be a recount as early as today after Lien questioned how more than 330 000 votes had been ruled invalid.
He lost to President Chen Shui-bian by about 29 000 votes.
As thousands of supporters staged a sit-in outside the presidential office, Lien demanded answers to many unanswered questions surrounding Friday's assassination attempt on Chen.
The president was slightly wounded while campaigning and went on to win Saturday's poll by the narrowest margin of 0.2% in the history of Taiwan's presidential elections.
Chen's Democratic Progressive Party dismissed speculation that the shooting in Tainan had been staged to help Chen win.
"Why don't we trust the government? Because there are too many things under a cloud of suspicion," Lien, the scion of one of Taiwan's wealthiest families, told his supporters.
"The March 20 presidential election was an unfair election."
Analysts said this narrowest of wins could be due to an 11th-hour sympathy vote after an unidentified gunman fired twice at Chen. Media surveys had pointed to a win for Lien.
Whatever the result of a recount, Chen faces a tough start to his second four-year term amid doubts about Taiwan's fledgling democratic process, question marks over Friday's unprecedented assassination attempt in which he and Vice-President Annette Lu were slightly wounded, and hostility from arch-foe China.
A Taiwan high court official said all ballot boxes from 13 000 polling stations had been sealed to preserve the evidence. He did not say whether a recount would be held.
The ballot boxes were sealed 10 hours after Lien challenged the result.
An angry Lien pointed out that invalid ballots numbered 337 297, almost triple the 122 278 rejected in 2000 and 11 times Chen's margin of victory.
The drama of Chen's re-election was manifest in his win by just over 29 000 votes out of 12.9 million cast and by the failure of his referendum on boosting defences against China that had been the linchpin of his campaign.
Lien demanded an independent inquiry into the shooting, particularly the ballistics and Chen's medical treatment.
"It's obvious this violent incident reversed the outcome of the election," said Wayne Lin, a political analyst. "All the information had indicated the opposition would win by 400 000 to 500 000 votes."
Chen and Lu had been travelling in an open-top jeep at the time of the shooting.
"If the bullet had shifted by even an inch, it would have damaged vital organs. A play for sympathy would have been playing games with the president's life," said presidential office spokesman James Huang, rejecting rumours of a staged shooting.
"Since the jeep was moving, how do we find a master marksman to fire a shot but only wound the president?"
Police said they believed two assailants were involved and authorities offered a $390 000 reward for information leading to their capture. No one has been arrested.
After the attack, Chen activated a national security protocol, meaning 200 000 military and police could not vote.
Braving a chilly drizzle, several thousand hardcore Lien supporters stayed at the presidential palace last night, facing hundreds of riot police.
One weeping man climbed onto a truck with a meat cleaver and threatened suicide in protest.
Premier Yu Shyi-kun called for calm and asked police to be gentle with protesters.
