[CNN] Taiwan votes for new parliament

[catcake (phoenix)]

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) -- Taiwan's main opposition Nationalist party captured at
least 57 seats in the island's Legislature Saturday, TV stations reported,
assuring it of a majority in the 113-seat body.


馬英九照片
A big Nationalist victory would provide a substantial boost for Nationalist
leader Ma Ying-jeou.


With 69 seats determined, the ruling DPP had won only 12. The size of the
Nationalist triumph was apparent in cumulative vote counting.

With about 6.7 million of the expected 10 million ballots tallied, the
Nationalists had scored 58 percent of the vote against the DPP's 42 percent,
the TV stations said. In the last legislative elections four years ago, the
Nationalists and their allies received 49.8 percent of the vote against 46.3
for the DPP and a satellite party.


The contest to elect a new 113-seat Legislature was widely seen as a
referendum on President Chen Shui-bian and his often divisive handling of
Taiwan's tense relations with rival China.

Voter turnout was expected to be high, with a key presidential election
coming in two months and increasing voter dissatisfaction over the state of a
once-vibrant economy that has been overshadowed by China's boom.


Chen, who must step down after eight years as president, has been criticized
for aggravating relations with Beijing by promoting policies to formalize
Taiwan's de facto independence from China. Critics say that has allowed the
economy to lose competitiveness and ratcheted up tension in the perennially
edgy Taiwan Strait.

Analysts expect Chen's Democratic Progressive Party to receive a drubbing in
Saturday's poll, allowing the Nationalists to expand its slim legislative
majority.


If the Nationalists make huge gains and go on to recapture the presidency,
the elections could end years of political deadlock and stabilize the
island's rocky relations with China, which still considers Taiwan a part of
its territory and has threatened unification by force nearly six decades
after the sides split amid civil war.

The Nationalists lean toward eventual unification with China.


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Reflecting the heated political atmosphere, the Justice Ministry said it had
received more than 6,000 complaints about alleged vote-buying, many believed
to be filed by candidates in order to smear their opponents.

In a dramatic move on the election's eve, Nationalist candidate Ho Tsai-feng
shaved her hair to proclaim her innocence, denouncing rivals for making false
vote-buying accusations against her and allegedly harassing her children in
her constituency in Kaohsiung, southern Taiwan.

After casting his ballot in a Taipei school Saturday, office worker Tsai
Ting-yu said he believed the election was crucial for Taiwan's future.

"I voted for a party which can bring us economic prosperity and peace," he
said, declining to identify the party he voted for.

Chen's DPP has acknowledged its original target of 50 seats seems out of
reach. A big Nationalist victory would provide a substantial boost for Ma
Ying-jeou, who will be running for the party against the DPP's Frank Hsieh in
March 22 presidential elections. Recent opinion polls show Ma with a lead of
20-30 points.

During Chen's two terms as president, the Nationalists have used a slender
legislative majority to block many of his policy initiatives, including the
purchase of a multibillion-dollar package of American weapons.

Ma has been at the forefront of the Nationalists' legislative campaign,
pressing home his message that Chen's emphasis on underscoring Taiwan's
separate status from China has hurt the island's economy and increased
tension with Beijing.


http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/01/12/taiwan.election.ap/index.html

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推 winston01:這個版沒幾個看的懂 白搭~
推 chihchien:我看到馬英九照片了!!
推 abc2090614:我就算想投KMT還是不想要unification with China
推 chihchien:他的國民黨翻錯了吧 =  =
→ valenci:我看得懂，不過太長了。
→ valenci:只看前幾段。
推 Mickey2001:為什麼是Nationalist Party
推 konamisport:國際最大趴
推 aboutlonely:吱吱看的懂嗎._.?
推 boykidd:好多...不是很想看= ="
推 locer:看完了
推 KA:算是該講的點都有講到吧 況且看得懂也不是什麼了不起的事