TAIPEI, March 20: Less than half of Taiwan's electorate took part in a pilot referendum on Saturday, rendering invalid the controversial ballot that had enraged China and brought finger-wagging by the United States and France.

President Chen Shui-bian, whose brainchild it was, made no reference to the referendum's failure in his brief re-election victory speech to thousands of delighted supporters.

However, he had said in an interview last week that winning a second term would be meaningless if the referendum failed to pass.

On the first referendum question, as to whether Taiwan should boost its anti-missile defences if China refuses to withdraw 500 missiles arrayed against the island, only 45.17 per cent of voters were in favour.

On the second question, on whether to reopen talks with China on peace, 45.12 per cent were in favour, final results showed.

"The March 20 peace referendum is a first for Taiwan," Mr Chen said. "The people of Taiwan have again written history."

Under Taiwan's election law, the referendum was rendered void if fewer than 50 per cent of voters collected a referendum ballot paper. Picking up a ballot constituted taking part.

Mr Chen had tied his re-election bid closely to the landmark referendum, saying that failure of the ballot would be a victory for China.

Doubts swiftly surfaced over his tiny margin of victory in the election and his failure to win the referendum.

"You can see that there are some questions," said political analyst Chen Yu-chun of Chinese Culture University in Taipei.-Reuters