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Taiwan disputed votes rise to 35,000
By Xiao Xing (China Daily)
Updated: 2004-05-18 08:24
Judges are expected to finish recounting 13 million ballots from Taiwan's
"presidential" election today while the number of disputed votes climbed to
35,000.
But it could take the island's high court several more weeks to confirm or
overturn Chen Shui-bian's razor-thin victory, Taiwan media reported.
After the ballot recount - which began on May 10 - is completed, the next
step will involve checking the rosters of eligible voters to see if the names
match those who cast the votes.
The high court has given a 30-day deadline for the next task, according to
Taiwan-based ETtoday.com.
Chen won a second term with a 0.2 per cent margin of victory, or 30,000
votes, in the March 20 poll.
Opposition challenger Lien Chan, however, filed a lawsuit to nullify the
election, saying it was marred by irregularities.
Most of the vote-counting at the 21 district courts islandwide has been
completed, and all the ballots should be recounted by today, said Cheng
Wen-tsang, spokesman of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
So far, judges and court officials haven't said which party is winning the
recount.
The DPP spokesman said Chen's inauguration will be held as scheduled on
Thursday because the retally did not show an organized effort to rig votes.
Opposition spokesman Justin Chou said Chen's margin of victory further
narrowed to about 20,000 because judges found more mismarked votes.
Cheng refused to give the result, but local newspapers quoted unidentified
ruling party officials as saying Chen's lead dropped by 3,000 votes to about
27,000.
Meanwhile, media reports said the number of votes in dispute had risen to
about 35,000 which will need decisions by the high court.
Many problems have emerged in the retally, such as missing voter lists,
mismarked ballots and votes that were sealed in the wrong bags.
The opposition also said the number of ballot papers distributed differed
from the number of ballots cast by several thousand.
The opposition hopes that irregularities that turn up during the recount
might bolster its request that the high court nullify the election.
The high court will make the final ruling on any disputed votes, a process
that could take several weeks.
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