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"Pay close attention to that man behind the curtain!"

Saturday, March 20, 2004

Chen Shui-bian re-elected to Taiwan presidency

Lien Chan loses -- sorely

The votes have been counted in the Taiwanese presidential election, and the winner is Chen Shui-bian! According to ETTV, who in my last post gave the largest lead to the Lien-Soong ticket, Chen and his partner Annette Lu received 6,472,510 votes compared to 6,441,912 for Lien Chan and James Soong -- a difference of only 30,598 votes, but a win nonetheless.

Lien Chan just gave what should have been a concession speech, but this is how it went (and I paraphrase):
1) Everybody stay calm.
2) Because Chen Shui-bian got shot yesterday, the election was unfair!
3) We declare this election invalid, and I'm gonna tell my mommy!
Again come the contradictory statements: "Stay calm, but be upset!" The crowd gathered before him was not calm, and I wouldn't be surprised if violence erupts because of this.

The accusations of an "unfair" election are also completely out of line. The media does nothing but help Lien and Soong while attacking Chen Shui-bian on a daily basis. The KMT (Lien's party) was (and perhaps still is) the richest political party in the world, which they achieved mostly by being thieves.

For some more perspective, in the election of 2000, when Lien and Soong were running against each other as well as against Chen, the vote count went like this:
Chen Shui-bian: 4,977,697
James Soong: 4,664,972
Lien Chan: 2,925,513
Does Lien Chan really think that yesterday's assassination attempt got Chen Shui-bian 1,494,813 extra votes since the last election? It's more likely that the public has been awakened by the constant unsubstantiated media attacks on Chen and his family. The opposition's supporters in the media have been repeatedly saying that the combined Lien-Soong votes from 2000 would easily beat Chen in 2004. The problem with this math is that "1+1" in 2000 doesn't necessarily add up to "2" in 2004. Chen now has 4 years of experience as president. Soong has a habit of getting on his knees in public. And Lien is a freaking crybaby, as he has just reiterated for the benefit of those watching live and those who will see it replayed over and over on the news.

UPDATE: Links added.
Posted at 8:51 PM by: [Permalink]
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