Less than half of Taiwan's electorate took part in a pilot referendum on Saturday, rendering invalid the controversial ballot that had enraged China and brought finger-wagging by the United States and France.
President Chen Shui-bian, whose brainchild it was, made no reference to the referendum's failure in his brief re-election victory speech to thousands of delighted supporters.
However, he had told Reuters in an interview last week that winning a second term would be meaningless if the referendum failed to pass.
...U.S. President George W. Bush issued a warning last December to both Beijing and Taipei not to upset the status quo after [President Chen Shui-bian] called for the island's first-ever referendum.
China was unlikely to welcome the prospect of another four years in office for a man who has aggressively promoted independence for Taiwan. Beijing sees the island as a rebel province to be recovered, by force if necessary.
Chen's Nationalist challenger, Lien Chan, had called the referendum illegal and meaningless. On Saturday night he said the election had been unfair and sought to have it declared invalid.
CNN article
President Chen Shui-bian, whose brainchild it was, made no reference to the referendum's failure in his brief re-election victory speech to thousands of delighted supporters.
However, he had told Reuters in an interview last week that winning a second term would be meaningless if the referendum failed to pass.
...U.S. President George W. Bush issued a warning last December to both Beijing and Taipei not to upset the status quo after [President Chen Shui-bian] called for the island's first-ever referendum.
China was unlikely to welcome the prospect of another four years in office for a man who has aggressively promoted independence for Taiwan. Beijing sees the island as a rebel province to be recovered, by force if necessary.
Chen's Nationalist challenger, Lien Chan, had called the referendum illegal and meaningless. On Saturday night he said the election had been unfair and sought to have it declared invalid.
Same story the world over, n'est ce pas?
It does seem rather odd that people would vote for Chen but not the referendum. On the other hand, I don't know how the ballot was set up. I suppose it's possible that the people who voted for Chen didn't also vote on the referendum one way or another. I just don't know. If you want to know, you'll have to wait for it to come by my e-desk (and it surely will, now that I'm questioning it), or find it yourself. In which case, hey, drop Nell a line. (You can always link to Nell in the sidebar. She's pretty good about getting the messages to me.)
Lien Chan, the Nationalist Party candidate, called for ballot boxes from all 13,000 polling places nationwide be impounded and the votes to be recounted.
...The Central Election Commission declared that President Chen had 29,518 more votes than Mr. Lien out of 13.25 million ballots cast. But Mr. Lien called for the election's annulment an hour before the commission finished its count, and the commission did not actually declare a winner.
The commission declared 337,297 ballots to be invalid more than 11 times President Chen's apparent margin of victory. In a development echoing the controversy four years ago over the vote count in Florida, there was uncertainty tonight over whether polling places had followed consistent standards in declaring votes to be invalid.
NY Times article
...The Central Election Commission declared that President Chen had 29,518 more votes than Mr. Lien out of 13.25 million ballots cast. But Mr. Lien called for the election's annulment an hour before the commission finished its count, and the commission did not actually declare a winner.
The commission declared 337,297 ballots to be invalid more than 11 times President Chen's apparent margin of victory. In a development echoing the controversy four years ago over the vote count in Florida, there was uncertainty tonight over whether polling places had followed consistent standards in declaring votes to be invalid.
The NY Times article makes it sound like there will be a recount. Other reports don't mention that.
Supporters of Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian celebrated victory with booming fireworks and blasting air horns Saturday as he won a narrow re-election just a day after being wounded by a would-be assassin's bullet.
...At the Nationalist Party headquarters in the capital Taipei, faces fell and some people wept as it became obvious they had lost following a night of varying news reports on who was ahead and by how much. Campaign workers started shaking their heads in dismay as each set of new numbers popped up on a screen.
Lien supporter Wang Ta-tong said the shooting on Friday had given Chen an unfair edge. The Nationalists have said the attack was suspicious and its influence should be investigated.
"We were ahead all along, then they played a dirty trick," Wang said.
article
...At the Nationalist Party headquarters in the capital Taipei, faces fell and some people wept as it became obvious they had lost following a night of varying news reports on who was ahead and by how much. Campaign workers started shaking their heads in dismay as each set of new numbers popped up on a screen.
Lien supporter Wang Ta-tong said the shooting on Friday had given Chen an unfair edge. The Nationalists have said the attack was suspicious and its influence should be investigated.
"We were ahead all along, then they played a dirty trick," Wang said.
Don't you hate it when that happens?
....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.
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