TAIWAN CRISIS
Poll recount may start next month, says Chen's party
TAIPEI - A recount of votes cast in Taiwan's disputed presidential election could begin by mid-May, a ruling party lawyer said yesterday, in a move that could help calm political feuding that has sparked massive protests and violence.
Opposition candidate Lien Chan began challenging the March 20 vote immediately after President Chen Shui-bian won by a tiny margin of 0.2 per cent, or just 30,000 ballots.
After meeting High Court judges yesterday, lawyers for the candidates struck a general agreement about the scope of the recount, Mr Wellington Koo, the President's lawyer, told reporters.
'We expect it to begin by mid-May,' said Mr Koo, adding that 'the whole process could take three to four days'.
Mr Lien has alleged that the vote was marred by irregularities, but has provided little evidence.
Still, the President agreed to a recount to resolve the dispute.
Meanwhile, Mr Chen also pledged to try to repair Taiwan's deep divisions along partisan lines as he spoke yesterday at a dialogue with a group of university students who were highly critical of his re-election campaign.
One student accused him of campaigning on a divisive platform, insinuating that the opposition was in cahoots with rival China.
'You said you were campaigning for democracy, but what you did was smear Taiwan's democracy,' said the student, who did not identify himself.
'You suppressed your opponents and said they didn't love Taiwan.'
China was a main issue in the campaign because Beijing insists that Taiwan is part of China's territory.
Mr Chen often assured voters that he would not cave in to the communist giant, and he questioned Mr Lien's willingness to stand up to Beijing.
The President assured the students that he and his party would reflect on the campaign and consider how to close the widening gap between people.
The divisions became violent last Saturday in Taipei when about 1,000 people battled riot police with pipes, rocks and bottles.
'We do have a crisis and it's something the ruling party and I need to review and to address,' Mr Chen said.
'We are all proud of Taiwan, and we have no need to pigeon-hole people.
'We all love Taiwan and we shouldn't try to paint someone black or red.'
Taiwan's 23 million people can be broadly divided into two sub-ethnic groups: the 'mainlanders' whose families fled to Taiwan when the Communists took over China in 1949, and the 'native Taiwanese' whose ancestors began arriving in the 17th century or earlier.
The mainlanders, about 15 per cent of the population, traditionally support unification with China and back the opposition Kuomintang and People First Party.
The native Taiwanese lean more towards formal independence and tend to favour Mr Chen's Democratic Progressive Party.
-- AP
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