Taiwan's President Favors Recount

The drama that is this year's presidential election in Taiwan is far from over. President Chen Shui-bian - shot a day before the election, along with his vice president, and elected by a margin of less than one percent - now says he favors a full recount.

That's what thousands of protestors on the streets of Taipei - fueled by allegations from the losing candidate - have been demanding.

The opposition party candidate, Nationalist Party leader Lien Chan, alleges that Saturday's election was marred by irregularities.

The president also said that it was "extremely regrettable" that some people believe that he faked an assassination attempt in the final day of the election to boost his chances of winning.

Lien's campaign has been alleging that the vote was affected by the election-eve shooting. Police still have no suspects in the shooting in Tainan, Chen's hometown, in southern Taiwan.

Chen was lightly wounded in the shooting when bullets grazed his stomach and hit Vice President Annette Lu in the knee as the two drove past supporters in an open Jeep at a rally Friday.

Neither Lien nor his supporters have offered much in the way of specific evidence to back up their allegations of either election irregularities or a plot by Chen and Lu to pick up sympathy votes by being shot and wounded.

"I won't object to a full-scale recount to help us find out the truth," said President Chen Shui-bian, in a televised message Tuesday, adding that any recount must follow the law.

The matter of what the law is - is a dispute so fiery that lawmakers Tuesday got into a scuffle over the issue.

Chen's party - the Democratic Progressive Party - Tuesday proposed legislation it says would allow an immediate recount.

The president, who campaigned on a platform of standing up to rival China, won the vote with only 50.1 percent of the ballots, while challenger Lien Chan, who pushed a more conciliatory approach toward mainland leaders, got 49.9 percent.

The dispute Monday sent thousands of Lien supporters pouring into the streets for demonstrations demanding a recount - protests which sparked a political crisis in Taiwan as well as jitters in stock markets across Asia.

Taiwan's courts have said it could take up to six months to respond to Lien's demand for a recount and his separate attempt to nullify the election, meaning the crisis could drag on for months.

Stock markets hate such uncertainty, and Taiwan's bourse plunged nearly 7 percent on Monday. The market dropped another 5 percent on Tuesday morning, but the ruling party's proposed legislation helped the market recover most of Tuesday's losses during midday trading.

The bill proposed by ruling party lawmakers - which would be retroactive to include this election - would amend Taiwan's presidential election law to trigger a recount whenever a candidate wins by less than 1 percent of the votes.

"We hope it can pass today so the protesters can return home," said Chen Chi-mai, a DPP caucus leader.

Opposition lawmakers say the bill is nothing more than a delaying tactic on the part of the ruling party.

"If you want to delay, the social cost will rise," warned Hsieh Chang-chieh, of the People First Party, who says the government could easily order an immediate recount with just one phone call to the Central Election Commission.

Not true, says ruling party leader Chang Chun-hsiung. He says the Chen government can't act under current law because the courts already have taken charge of the issue, ordering ballot boxes island-wide sealed for a possible recount.

Only the courts, and not the president or his administration, says Chang, can order the seals to be broken for a recount.

Violence broke out in a legislative committee meeting about the proposal. Opposition lawmaker Liao Fung-teh said the meeting was dismissed and began to walk out of the room. Ruling party lawmaker Lin Feng-hsi grabbed him from behind by the collar, and other legislators screamed and yelled as they pulled the two apart.

Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou, a key Lien supporter, said he has no plans to disperse the protesters who have camped out in front of the Presidential Office for the past three days to demand a recount, so long as the rallies stay peaceful.

About 2,000 to 3,000 were there in the morning, but the crowd has been swelling to about 10,000 in the evening after people get off work and leave school.

"The best way to end the protest is for our government to respond to their demand in a sincere way," said Ma, a senior leader in Lien's Nationalist Party.