Election, part 6

Well, about 8 months ago, I started talking about Taiwan's presidential election. If you'll recall, the incumbent, Chen Shui-Bian, won re-election with a margin of about 20,000 votes out of about 13 million cast. The loser, Lien Chan, also ran against Chen and lost in 2000 (although that was a clearer victory because of a 3rd party split). Due to the closeness of the vote, and a mysterious--and still totally unsolved--shooting of the president and his running mate at an election rally on the eve of the election, Lien refused to concede. Lien, of the long-ruling-but-currently-bitter KMT, said that alleged voting irregularities and a sympathy vote for Chen in the wake of his shooting should cause the election results to be annulled.

Lien and the angry old men of his party have been chasing this case through the courts since then. They are helped by having a majority in their Legislature which has given them all kinds of sympathetic comittees, fact-finding investigations, and the like. The KMT have also basically prevented President Chen, of the Democratic People's Party (DPP), from getting anything done for the last four years. And the KMT good-ol'-boys network of county and city officials keep skimming the public's money off the top by the truckload, while the president goes around the country to ribbon-cuttings and twiddles his thumbs.

Despite all this, this week, the high court of Taiwan threw out his lawsuits. All of his allegations were totally unsubstantiated and a complete recount of all the votes still found in Chen's favor. At every turn, the KMT's Lien has simultaneously pursued every legal and legislative option available while slamming the legal processes as unfair and fradulent.

As President Chen, who is now 5 months into his second and final term, urged the opposition party to respect the results, Lien promised he would press on with his quest for the presidency.

So, the American eleciton has gone pretty well by comparison. Too bad about the winner, though.