Violent Protests In Wake Of Taiwan's Close Vote

by Antoaneta Bezlova

(IPS) TAIPEI -- Uncertainty and division looms in the days and weeks ahead in Taiwan, after mass demonstrations, fuelled by folktale-like speculations about the rigging of Saturday's presidential elections, turned into violent riots Sunday.

Supporters of the defeated Kuomintang party clashed with police and opponents from the winning Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), whose candidate, incumbent President Chen Shui-bian, won 50.12 percent of the vote, or just 0.2 percent ahead of his challenger, Lien Chan.

Taiwan's High Court ordered all the 13,000 ballot boxes across the island sealed after Lien Chan, leader of the Nationalist party or Kuomintang, said the results of the Mar. 20 vote were invalid and demanded a recount.

Lien Chan's camp contested the narrow margin of victory which gave incumbent President Chen Shui-bian a new mandate. While formal legal proceedings in Lien's election challenge are set to begin within a week, his supporters have already been taking to the streets to demand an immediate recount.

A crowd of 10,000 supporters of Lien Chan braved the rain on Sunday, staging a 10-hour protest in front of the Presidential Office in Taipei. Demonstrators were chanting "invalid" while waving the flags of the opposition alliance, formed by the Kuomintang and the People First Party to challenge the DPP.

"Elections were tampered with" read one of the billboards carried by protesters. A girl in her twenties had her belly exposed and the Chinese character for 'Liar' written on it. The attack was addressed at President Chen, whom the opposition has accused of playing up an assassination attempt on Mar. 19, just before the elections, or even staging it himself.

Chen was slightly wounded in the stomach by a bullet as he rode through the streets in Southern Taiwan on the day before the Saturday elections.

In other cities across the island, protests took a violent turn as KMT supporters rioted, clashing with DPP's followers. Police forces were dispatched to install calm.

Kaoshiung city in southern Taiwan saw two violent skirmishes Saturday night, when people were wounded and a motorcycle was set in fire. Violent scenes were replayed in Taichung in the early hours Sunday with KMT supporters smashing windows and throwing stones at the local court.

Faced with mounting pressure from the public to prove that the Mar. 19 attack on incumbent President Chen Shui-bian was not "faked", the Presidential Office took the unusual step of showing close-up photos of Chen lying unconscious on the operating table and of him recuperating in the hospital.

"It is a step I have agreed to do with great reluctance," Chen's paramedic at the Chi Mei hospital in Tainan city was quoted as saying on Taiwan's central television. "I have never broken the confidentiality of my patients, all the more that the patient this time happens to be our nation's leader." Yet, many remained unconvinced.

James Soong, leader of the People First party and Lien Chan's running mate as vice president, issued a plea to Chen Shui-bian: "We invite the President to join us in a visit to a temple and swear in front of our Shen (Chinese god) that he did not use unfair means to win these elections,"

Taxi driver Lai Jun-xian said Chen should come out on television and show everybody the wound on his belly. "It is important to win our trust, isn't it? Why can't he show us his belly? How do we know the photos of the wound that the papers showed are indeed his?"

Some of Taiwan's political commentators are also accusing Chen of being scared to face up to the challenge mounted by the opposition.

"If DPP's actions during these elections have been all fair and just, why doesn't Chen come out and say: "We will begin to recount the votes now," argued Professor Chang Lin-wei from Taiwan University. "Do we really need to wait for the legal proceedings to take place in order to calm the jittery public?"

Bitter debates over winners and losers over the last two days have somewhat obscured the big picture that rival electoral candidates have tried to emphasise during their campaign. The closely fought presidential contest focused on many key issues for Taiwan, including the recent economic recession and most importantly, relations with rival neighbour China.

China considers Taiwan part of its territory and has long demanded political reunification. President Chen's Democratic Progressive Party is seen as favouring the formal independence of Taiwan, stressing the island's democratic reforms and its emerging national identity.

Lien Chan's political camp is perceived by many as being inclined to overcome political disputes with Chinese government in favour of greater trade and investment across the Taiwan Strait. Saturday's vote also included a referendum on how to conduct relations with China. Voters were asked whether Taiwan should strengthen its defences in face of China's 500 missiles aimed at the island and if Taiwan's leaders should engage in peaceful talks with the government in Beijing. The referendum failed to pass though, because those who took part in it made up less than a majority of voters.

China has opposed the holding of the referendum, fearing it could provide a dangerous precedent for the island one day to vote on its own independence. Beijing condemned the failed exercise Saturday as a "provocative attempt" to gain independence from the "motherland".

"The referendum turned out to be invalid. Facts have proven that this illegal act goes against the will of the people," Chinese officials said in a statement reported by the official Xinhua News Agency.

The comments by China's Communist party and Taiwan Affairs Office condemning the "provocative attempt undermine cross-Strait relations and split the motherland" was Beijing's first response to the Mar. 20 vote.