TAIWAN: Taiwan's President Chen Shui-bian, freshly re-elected on a tiny majority after a controversial campaign that culminated in a mysterious assassination attempt and damaged by accusations he rigged the election, has agreed to allow a recount of votes.
Close to tears as he told of the shooting, as well as his dismay that some doubted he was the genuine victim of a would-be assassin's bullet, President Chen promised to accept the outcome of a recount.
"They called A-bian a vote-rigging president. This is the biggest insult to my integrity. I won't object to a full-scale recount to help us find the truth," Mr Chen said, referring to himself by his popular nickname.
"I know we did not rig votes; we are not afraid of re-examining the ballots," said Mr Chen, who won by 29,000 votes out of some 13 million cast.
He called for unity among Taiwan's 23 million people, and said the election and the attempt on his life must not split the island, which lives with the constant threat of invasion by China.
Opposition candidate and Nationalist Party leader Mr Lien Chan had asked that the result of the election be declared invalid, and wanted a recount.
The opposition said the gun attack generated sympathy votes for Mr Chen, who won by a margin of just 0.2 per cent.
In a post-election scenario that is rapidly turning into farce, the process of passing a law to allow for a recount was delayed after a fist-fight broke out between lawmakers from Mr Chen's Democratic Progressive Party and Mr Lien's Nationalists.
A recount could start as soon as tomorrow, but could last for days because of the huge amount of work in verifying over 13 million votes.
In allowing a recount, Mr Chen was bowing to pressure from thousands of protesters who have been demonstrating noisily in front of the presidential office since Saturday's election.