Posted on 05/10/2004 9:08:44 AM PDT by JohnnyZ
TAIPEI, Taiwan - Having struggled through weeks of political crises and angry street protests, Taiwan's vibrant democracy begins a recount of the presidential election vote today. But no evidence has surfaced that might undo incumbent Chen Shui-bian's narrow victory.
The drama that some liken to the Florida recount in the 2000 U.S. presidential election has kept the island of 23 million on tenterhooks, but rival candidate Lien Chan's challenge appears to be sputtering, and people who were once in the streets yelling are now yawning.
The opposition has yet to provide compelling evidence of irregularities in the March 20 election, which Chen won by just 30,000 of the 13 million votes cast.
Also, analysts say, the opposition's campaign appears to be an attempt to divert scrutiny from its own internal power struggle and its potentially far-reaching consequences. The Nationalists, having lost their unbroken 50-year grip on power when Chen was elected in 2000, now face a parliamentary election in which they could cease to be the main opposition.
One of the opposition's biggest gripes about the vote involves a bizarre shooting during an election-eve campaign parade in which the president and vice president were mildly injured. Challenger Lien insists the attack, still unsolved, gave his rival a crucial boost and he demands that it be explained before he accepts the results.
Independent U.S. forensics experts have found no proof of Lien's suggestion that the shooting was staged. Lien also has not backed up his allegations that tens of thousands of police and soldiers could not vote because the president put them on special alert after the shooting.
Lien does not want just a recount but a new election, arguing that the one in March was hopelessly compromised by the shooting and the irregularities he claims but has not proved.
But when his party's lawyers put the demand before the High Court last week, a judge scolded them for being unprepared and gave them two weeks to collect evidence.
Andrew Nien-Dzu Yang, secretary-general at the Taipei-based Chinese Council of Advanced Policy Studies, believes the president will survive the recount, which will be done by hand and is expected to take 10 days. He doubts the opposition can show irregularities.
"They've just been circling around the same issue," Yang said. "Eventually, it will just be swept under the carpet if there's no compelling evidence."
But Yang noted that the feuding parties had not fully agreed on the recount procedures and said Lien likely would dismiss the process as unfair if he lost again.
Lien and his Nationalists would then risk being dubbed sore losers. That could cost them undecided voters in the next crucial race: December legislative elections. One of the Nationalists' most serious problems is factionalism that might drive members to other parties.
PING
The money budgeted for the demonstrations ran out. It costs a lot to charter buses for 100's of thousands of people and to provide food and drink for them.
There was a funny web page by a Taiwanese student about their trip to the demo and their free snacks once there -- all paid for by the KMT coffers.
I hope this helps to get this sorted out and put behind them. The division that exists is not going to go away; it will remain a divided populace. But unity is necessary for them to confront their economic and PRC issues.
Would you have a link to a site that shows the results of Dr. Lee's investigation?
You know, I was looking around for just that and couldn't find a good source. Apparently he was only in Taiwan briefly and concluded that:
A) The wounds were real gunshot wounds
B) They were not self-inflicted
and examined some other crime scene evidence but couldn't rule out a staged shooting. So, really not much of dramatic import.
Thats what I have seen so far. I am in contact with clients in Taiwan daily and they report the same. At the risk of being flamed, again, it does appear that Dr. Lee's findings offer no definitive support for clearing this incident up.
Cooler heads seem to be prevailing now, it remains to be seen for how long. Its interesting to see how this Taiwanese version of representative democracy comes into bloom. Hell...its almost as fun as Texas politics. And thats closer to TV 'Wrasslin'. Although they do mix it up in Taiwan Legislature..lol
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