Taiwan President Re-Elected, Opponent Says Invalid
50 minutes ago Add World - Reuters to My Yahoo!

By Tiffany Wu and Alice Hung

TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian won re-election on Saturday, a day after he was shot by a would-be assassin, in the closest such poll in the island's history and in a result almost certain to upset China.

Quivering with rage, Nationalist Party opponent Lien Chan swiftly challenged the razor-thin result, saying the shooting had influenced the outcome, demanding the election be declared invalid and calling for a recount.

At the heart of the row was the high number of invalid ballots, which totaled 337,297, almost tripling from 122,278 in 2000 and 11 times Chen's margin of victory. Lien's Nationalist Party filed several lawsuits in major cities demanding a recount.

The drama of Chen's re-election was underscored by his win by just 29,158 votes out of 12.9 million cast and by the failure of his referendum on boosting defenses against China that had been his brainchild and the heart of his campaign.

"The election is over," Chen said, trying to draw a line under a result that has plunged the island into its most destabilising domestic crisis in years.

"Even those of us with different beliefs and ideals should use love and forgiveness to create a new Taiwan," said Chen, who told Reuters last week that re-election without passage of the referendum would make his victory meaningless.

Only 45 percent of the electorate voted in the referendum, rendering it void since it required a minimum 50 percent.

Ten thousand supporters gathered outside Chen's Taipei campaign headquarters, screaming with delight, waving the green banners of his Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

Analysts said this narrowest of wins could be due to an 11th-hour sympathy vote after the unidentified gunman fired twice at Chen. Most analysts had expected Chen to lose based on underground betting odds and media surveys.

ENRAGED OPPOSITION

Lien challenged Chen's re-election, saying many question marks hung over Friday's shooting in which a bullet fired at his motorcade from the crowd tore a gash in the president's abdomen.

"We ask the central election commission to seize and seal all ballot boxes," said Lien, head of the Nationalist Party.

A furious Lien also demanded a full inquiry into the shooting in Chen's southern home town of Tainan, fueling conspiracy theories that have abounded since the shooting.

"Its impact on this election needs no words, and its impact was direct. The doubts surrounding it give us one common impression -- this is an unfair election," said the multi-millionaire scion of one of Taiwan's wealthiest families.

Police said they believed two assailants were involved and authorities offered a T$13 million ($390,000) reward for information leading to their capture. No one has been arrested.

After the attack, Chen activated the national security protocol, meaning 200,000 military and police -- traditionally Nationalist supporters -- could not vote.

THE GUNFIRE FACTOR

"I think he (Chen) realizes that without the gunshot incident Lien may be president now, so now is the time for him to bring the country together," said Philip Yang, a political scientist at National Taiwan University.

The main difference between the candidates was policy toward arch-foe China.

Chen espouses an aggressive policy that sees Taiwan as independent. Lien favors a conciliatory approach to China that has threatened war if the island it regards as a renegade province moves to declare formal independence.

China welcomed Chen's referendum humiliation.

"Facts have proven that this illegal act goes against the will of the people," said Communist Party and government Taiwan affairs offices in a relatively mild joint statement.

"Any attempt to separate Taiwan from China is doomed to failure," it said.

In a brief speech, Chen urged China to accept his victory and to re-start talks frozen since 1999.

"We ask the Beijing authorities to look positively on the result of the election and the referendum," said Chen, urging the withdrawal of 500 missiles arrayed against the island and a resumption of talks -- the main issues cited in the referendum.