Chen (DPP) Wins Taiwan Election in a Squeaker: Opposition Demands Recount

Taipei Times ^ | March 20, 2003 | Taipei Times Staff

[Bobby Chang]

STAFF WRITER Saturday, Mar 20, 2004,Page 1

Chen wins, Lien demands recount

Incumbent President Chen Shui-bian and running mate Annette Lu have won the election by 29,518 votes. Central Election Commission Chairman Huang Shih-cheng made a formal announcement of the results at 9:20 pm (GMT+8) (8:20 AM EST). The Chen-Lu ticket won a total of 6,471,970 votes while the opposition ticket, featuring Lien Chan of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)and James Soong of the People First Party (PFP), won 6,442,452 votes, Huang said.

The turnout for the presidential election was 80.28 percent. Responding to the opposition demand for invalidation of the results and a recount of the votes, Huang said the opposition must file an application with the court in accordance with the Election and Recall Law.

Speaking to crowds of supporters in front of the KMT headquarters earlier, Lien and Soong called the election "unfair", citing that the election was held under suspicious circumstances.

They were referring to the assassination attempt on Chen and Lu on Friday, one day before the vote. Chen and Lu suffered gunshot wounds in the incident in southern Taiwan. The incident is believed to have swayed some voters to Chen's camp.

Chen won the election by a margin of around 0.2 percent. Lien and Soong ran separately in the previous presidential election in 2000 and won a combined 58 percent. A Lien-Soong joint ticket this time meant an extremely tough race for Chen.

In his victory speech, Chen thanked the opposition for its "criticism and instructions" and vowed to listen to different opinions to promote Taiwan's democracy, solidarity and harmony. Chen did not respond to the opposition demand of a recount in his speech.

[Bobby Chang]

Wow . . . 4 out of 5 turned out (a decline -- in 2000 83% of Taiwanese voted) in a spirited election which came down to less than a quarter percent of the electorate.

[arkfreepdom]

They were referring to the assassination attempt on Chen and Lu on Friday, one day before the vote. Chen and Lu suffered gunshot wounds in the incident in southern Taiwan. The incident is believed to have swayed some voters to Chen's camp.

I guess they view threats to their democracy different than the Spanish.

[tet68]

Speaking to crowds of supporters in front of the KMT headquarters earlier, Lien and Soong called the election "unfair", citing that the election was held under suspicious circumstances in three Florida Counties.

[Ken H]

Thousands of voters have come forward claiming to have voted for Buchanan by mistake.

[tallhappy]

Wow!

Interestingly, Lien Chan is like a Taiwanese Al Gore in many respects.

[Dog Gone]

That's amazingly close.

[Go Gordon]

Interestingly, Lien Chan is like a Taiwanese Al Gore in many respects.

Well you don't have to get snippy about it...

[Libertina]

Free Taiwan bump!

[Semper Paratus]

It's those damn confusing lotus flower ballots.

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

"In a related development, Al Gore's entire legal staff was seem in Chicago boarding a morning flight for Taipei."

[FreeReign]

It's those damn confusing lotus flower ballots.

Or maybe it was those damn confusing names -- Chen Shui-bian and Lien Chan.

[Semper Paratus]

Or maybe it was those damn confusing names -- Chen Shui-bian and Lien Chan.

Can't tell Weit from Wong.

[FreeReign]

Can't tell Weit from Wong.

Especially after a dinner of maotai and Peking duck.

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

"In a related development, Al Gore's entire legal staff was seem in Chicago boarding a morning flight for Taipei."

While true they were also "seemly", the fact is they were "seen" in Chicago. I have this on good authority. :O)

[Bobby Chang]

They can detect the difference since Taiwan ballots are in Mandarin (the symbols are different), the political parties are distinguished by their logos, and a specific "ballot number" is required to distinguish where they are on the ballot. In the Greens (Chen and Lu) case they were marked as Ticket #1. The Blues (Chan and Soong) cannot use the number.

P. S. How is Chen like an Al Gore of Taiwan? I'd like to know. The Heritage Foundation has some Taiwan talk.

But this was truly an election. This is Darlington weekend and I can remember last spring's squeaker. Here we go with another squeaker.

[BrucefromMtVernon]

Keep Free China Free!

[kingu]

Margin of 29,000 votes, total invalid ballots 337,000...

Yeah, it strikes me that a recount might just be in order. Just hope that they have all their ducks in a row when it comes to recounting.

[Khurkris]

IMHO...this was a bogus election. A 'victory' by less than 30,000 votes. The number of "invalid" election forms tripled since the election 4 yrs ago to 330,000+ ballots. This indicates a high possibility of some tampering.

We'll see what develops.

[FreeReign]

Margin of 29,000 votes, total invalid ballots 337,000... Yeah, it strikes me that a recount might just be in order. Just hope that they have all their ducks in a row when it comes to recounting.

It strikes me that the blues were openingly advocating the casting of invalid ballots because of the referendum requirement of 50% participation.

[2004-03-18 / Taiwan News, Staff Reporter / By Bruce Jacobs]:

Lien Chan and James Soong have said they will not pick up the ballots. This endangers the referenda's success since more than half of the enrolled voters must participate in the ballot for a referendum to be successful. But other "blue" leaders like Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng have said they will vote in the referenda. "Blue" propaganda is mixed with most literature calling for either not taking the ballots or casting invalid ballots (which would help raise the number of participants but would not boost the support for the referenda). But some "blue" campaign leaders note that voting in referenda is a "a right of the people" and thus they hesitate to say much.

[FreeReign]

IMHO...this was a bogus election. A 'victory' by less than 30,000 votes. The number of "invalid" election forms tripled since the election 4 yrs ago to 330,000+ ballots. This indicates a high possibility of some tampering.

IMO you are wrong. See post #19.