TAIPEI, March 20: Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian won re-election on Saturday, a day after he was hit by gunfire from a would-be assassin , in the closest such election in the island's history and in a result almost certain to anger China.

Quivering with rage, Nationalist Party opponent Lien Chan swiftly challenged the razor-thin result, demanding the election be declared invalid and saying he would ask for a recount.

The political drama of Mr Chen's victory was underscored by his victory by just 29,158 votes out of 12.9 million votes cast and by the failure of his referendum on boosting defences against China that had been his brainchild and the heart of his campaign.

"The election is over," Mr Chen said, trying to draw a line under the potentially destabilizing quarrel over the result.

"Even those of us with different beliefs and ideals should use love and forgiveness to create a new Taiwan," he said.

Ten thousand supporters gathered outside Mr Chen's Taipei campaign headquarters, screaming with delight, waving the green banners of his Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and setting off a storm of firecrackers into the Taipei night sky.

Analysts said this narrowest of wins could be due to an 11th-hour sympathy vote after the unidentified gunman fired twice at Mr Chen. Most analysts had expected the president to lose based on underground gambling and secret opinion polls by newspapers.

ENRAGED OPPOSITION: Mr Lien chose not to concede defeat and instead challenged Chen Shui-bian's re-election by calling the vote unfair and saying many question marks still hung over Friday's bizarre shooting in which a bullet gashed the president's abdomen.