TAIPEI, March 20: Mystery surrounded an attempt to kill Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian hours before his re-election bid. Rage greeted his razor-thin victory as a huge pile of invalid ballots outnumbered his winning margin 10 times.
To cap it all, a referendum on the island's stance towards China that was the linchpin of Mr Chen's re-election bid failed because under half of voters turned out.
Conspiracy theories abound and instability lies ahead.
Opponent Lien Chan, of the Nationalist Party, has called for the election to be declared invalid, for all ballot boxes to be sealed and the votes recounted.
"This is very strange," said Chen Yu-chun, a political expert at the Chinese Culture University in Taipei.
"If the referendum had passed, it would have supported Chen Shui-bian's re-election. But the turnout rate was only a little more than 45 percent."
It all began on Friday, when a bullet gashed the president's abdomen. Chen survived the gunshot, which turned out to be a life-saver for his election bid.
Many analysts credit sympathy votes for his victory, saying Mr Chen would otherwise have lost by up to six percentage points.
"We have not had a clear explanation of the truth of yesterday's shooting," said Mr Lien. "Its impact on this election needs no words and its impact was direct. The doubts surrounding it give us one common impression - this is an unfair election."
The National Security Bureau ruled out a political motive or Chinese involvement. But no one has yet been arrested and many in Taiwan voiced suspicion about the unprecedented attack.
Some suspect underground gambling rings, which have logged millions of dollars of bets on the election. Others blame China.
One theory has the rival Nationalists as masterminds. Another says it was an inside job by supporters of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to gain last-minute support.-Reuters
