TAIWAN: Defiant in the chilly night, 20,000 protesters in Taiwan's capital, Taipei, vowed not to go home without the promise of a presidential vote recount after Mr Chen Shui-bian won a razor-thin victory on a wave of sympathy hours after surviving an assassination bid.
The crowd of protesters, facing ranks of helmeted police in full riot gear, massed in front of the presidential office through the day to back opposition leader Mr Lien Chan's contention that a suspiciously high number of spoiled votes had been cast on Saturday.
Seeking a personal explanation of the mystery of the election-eve shooting and the invalid votes, Mr Lien asked for a face-to-face meeting with Mr Chen.
"It has been three days and our highest leader has not given us an answer, so Chairman Soong and I want to meet the President," said Mr Lien, referring to his running mate, Mr James Soong, who heads the People First Party.
"The government should, as soon as possible, give a reply to the people ... It is a national problem," he told reporters.
Mr Chen won re-election by just 29,000 votes out of nearly 13 million cast, the narrowest margin in a such an election in the history of Taiwan's young democracy.
Neither Mr Chen nor Vice-President Ms Annette Lu, both slightly wounded in a shooting incident on Friday while campaigning in the south, has appeared in public since claiming victory on Saturday night.
No one has been arrested in the assassination attempt and police said they still had no leads.
Thousands of protesters braved a chilly drizzle to demonstrate for a second day and the Nationalist Party said it planned to mobilise more than 200,000 people to march next Saturday.
"The march will call for the rescue of Taiwan's democracy and opposition to the dirty election," party spokesman Mr Justin Chou said.
"If you didn't cheat on the ballot, then why don't you dare to have a recount?" one organiser shouted towards Mr Chen's official residence.
The High Court appointed three judges to consider the issue and a decision would come within six months, although no immediate ruling on a recount was likely, a spokesman said.
Taiwan's stock market tumbled 6.68 per cent yesterday as investors fled the political uncertainty. The central bank intervened in currency markets, selling large quantities of US dollars to stem a fall in the local dollar.