Personal Dork Assistant

Electoral Strife

If you thought the American presidential election is getting ugly, you should get a load of the brouhaha that is the Taiwan presidential election. The day before the election, the hotly contested campaign hit an explosive climax when the incumbent president and VP were shot while campaigning. It was a shocking event in a country with strict gun control and a tradition of up-close street campaigning. On the other hand, the injuries were so minor that they walked out the hospital after a few hours, and the mysterious gunman is yet to be found, which makes for some suspicious conspiracies theories. I might've put on my tinfoil hat, too, if it were the KMT, but I doubt the DPP is competent enough to pull off anything that elaborate. But those sympathy votes sure came in handy, as Chen Shui-Bien and the DPP won by less than 30,000 votes out of almost 13 million ballots cast. Of course, the KMT camp is already crying foul and demanding recounts, etc. If you thought Bush vs. Gore got messy, you ain't seen nothing yet. There won't be any reconciliatory feelings between the two camps, that's for sure.

Even though the DPP won the presidential election, the referendum they sponsored regarding missile defenses and negotiations with China was shot down because it didn't get enough votes, as opposed voters simply ignored the question rather than vote No. It's very much a reflection of the Taiwanese attitude toward mainland China, as most people would probably prefer the calculated ambiguity of de facto independence, rather than aggravate tensions by pushing for de jure status. Phew, it won't be raining missiles in the weather forecast tomorrow. Great for all the Taiwanese business folks working on the mainland. Even better for the airlines that's ferrying them and the American expats back and forth.