A day after being wounded slightly by a gunshot on the campaign trail, President Chen Shui-bian on Saturday narrowly won re-election, a victory that was instantly contested in court by the challenger, who raised questions about the role of the shooting in the vote.
Taiwan’s High Court ordered all ballot boxes sealed Sunday morning, after a night in which small, angry crowds loyal to the loser, Lien Chan, demanded that the election be annulled.
Chen is an ardent promoter of an independent identity for Taiwan, even at the risk of enraging archrival China. If his victory stands, attention will shift to his ability to continue managing the country’s complex and sensitive relationship with the mainland.
Taiwan’s election commission declared Chen the winner by 30,000 votes, and Chen insisted in a victory speech that there was no controversy. “The election is over,” he told a jubilant crowd of supporters.
But amid the mysterious assault and combative politics in a democracy holding only its third presidential election, the drama seemed unlikely to end soon.
Rushed to file challenge
Lien’s rich and powerful Nationalist Party, or KMT, which dominated Taiwanese society for 55 years until Chen took office in 2000, sent lawyers rushing to court at midnight to challenge the election.
A party spokesman, Su Ch’i, said one complaint was that the attack on Chen and Vice President Annette Lu forced the mobilization of 200,000 police and military personnel who may have been unable to vote. Su also said a high number of invalid ballots were cast–more than 300,000 of nearly 13.2 million votes.
Lien told thousands of flag-waving supporters at what was expected to be his concession speech Saturday evening that the election was “unfair.” He tried to connect the election outcome to the shooting the day before.
“Up to now, we have not had a clear explanation of the truth of yesterday’s shooting,” Lien said, making a series of allegations. “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.”
Without directly accusing Chen of staging the attack, Lien leveled a vague assertion that the president and his political party had committed “not one but a series of actions that have created a cloud of suspicion.” Su, the KMT spokesman, called the shooting “very fishy.”
On Friday, Chen and Lu were shot as they waved to a crowd from the back of a Jeep driving through the president’s hometown of Tainan. Chen suffered a graze wound to the stomach, and Lu was hit in the right leg.
No one has been arrested in what is presumed to have been an assassination attempt. Investigators have indicated that they suspect the involvement of two assailants but have ruled out China’s involvement.
In the vacuum of information, KMT supporters charged that the attack could have been staged to generate sympathy for Chen and push his campaign over the top. The party provided no evidence of a conspiracy surrounding the shooting and offered no proof of voter fraud.
The initial reaction in Taiwan was peaceful, but 2,000 KMT supporters marched on the presidential office. They shouted “Examine the ballots!” as riot police watched. In Taichung, about 1,000 demonstrators swarmed and smashed glass door at the courthouse.
Observer’s view
J. Bruce Jacobs, an election observer from Australia’s Monash University, said the results appeared legitimate and should not lead to major unrest, though they reflect divides within society.
Implying that the shooting was a setup was “irresponsible,” said Jacobs, a longtime observer of Taiwan politics. “It was a stupid speech, and I think it will go by the wayside,” he said.
Chen of the Democratic Progressive Party won 50.1 percent of the presidential ballot in the two-candidate race, the Central Election Commission said. More than 13 million ballots were cast for president, and turnout was 80 percent, the commission said.
The razor-thin victory margin for Chen, and the KMT’s reaction, reflected the intensity of a political battle that could sway the balance of power further away from the Nationalists, who have dominated the island since fleeing communist forces in 1949. Chen’s victory also could have implications for Taiwan’s relationship with China and the U.S., both of which have expressed concern over his views on Taiwan’s identity.
China considers Taiwan a breakaway province and has threatened war if it ever declares independence. While Taiwan operates separately, it maintains an ambiguous shadow-state identity to avoid Beijing’s wrath.
The communist government loathes Chen for what it suspects is his stealthy intention to break away, and it attacked a major initiative of his campaign: the addition of two referendums to the ballot Saturday. One asked voters whether to support an increase in defense spending unless China redeploys hundreds of missiles pointed at Taiwan, and the other asked whether Taiwan should adopt a strategy of negotiations with the mainland.
Both of Chen’s initiatives were defeated when they failed to attract a threshold of 50 percent of voters. The KMT and its supporters rejected the referendums as a campaign tactic, and President Bush joined China in criticizing the initiatives for appearing to challenge the ambiguous status quo that helps keep the peace between China and Taiwan. The referendums were seen as an attempt to set a precedent for a future vote on independence.
Chen’s party advocates independence, but he has maintained a cagey, defiant support of an independent identity for Taiwan that has become more pronounced over time. Still, he has modified his position to call for negotiations with China.
In his victory speech, Chen seemed to gloss over the defeat of the referendums and the KMT claims about the election.
“It is a new era for solidarity and harmony and a new era for peace across the Taiwan Strait,” Chen said. “We sincerely ask the Beijing authorities across the strait to view the election results from a positive perspective–to accept the democratic decision of the Taiwanese people.”
