The Associated Press doesn't seem to think much of the blues: Half-Million Taiwanese Protest Election:

Lien's handling of the controversy has been confusing. Sometimes he demands a recount, and other times he talks about holding the vote again. Sometimes he treats the unexplained shooting as the most important issue.

Many believe an internal power struggle is going on between moderates who just favor a recount, and hard-liners who want a new election. Lien is presiding over a coalition of his Nationalist Party and the smaller People First Party.

On Saturday, one of the most popular moderates in the Nationalist Party, Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou, said that Lien should just accept the results of a recount.

But the hard-liners have been more visible, and at times they have used violence to push their points. On Friday, members of the People First Party helped incite a crowd of about 2,000 to storm the Central Election Commission as it prepared to certify Chen's victory. The angry mob broke windows, tossed eggs and scuffled with riot police.

On the other hand, Ching Cheong has a pretty low opinion of Chen as seen in Chen in a quandry - MARCH 28, 2004

President Chen now has a chance to prove his innocence. He should be under no illusion that there is real anger simmering because of a string of dubious acts which he and his DPP perpetrated in order to win the election.

Among these was his attempt to bundle a so-called defensive referendum with the March 20 election to boost his chances.

A number of retired high court judges had come out warning that such a move was unconstitutional. He turned a deaf ear to them.

But the most outrageous to the average Taiwanese was the bizarre shooting on the eve of the polls. Though no public figure has been bold or reckless enough to say it was faked, choosing instead to say only that the incident left many unanswered questions, the track record of Mr Chen and the DPP suggests that the worst could not be ruled out.

Taiwanese author Kao Chi-ming wrote a book a few years ago disclosing that Mr Chen had masterminded a plot to accuse the KMT of poisoning him when he was running for a local election in Tainan. After the latter became president, Mr Kao went into exile in the United States.

Even if the March 19 shooting was a genuine attempt on the President, the DPP had clearly exploited it to its advantage.

By ordering a national security alert, it effectively barred military and police officers, traditionally KMT supporters, from voting.

The Cabinet first claimed that not a single man in uniform was affected but after the abrupt resignation of Defence Minister Tang Yao-ming, it was forced to admit that only 13,000 officers were affected.

The under-reporting angered those in uniform and they called the media volunteering evidence, thus forcing the Cabinet to admit a second time that the number affected was about 35,000.

This figure was more than sufficient to turn the result around had they voted as the DPP's margin was less than 30,000.

Most unethical of all, after the incident, the opposition alliance, out of respect and sympathy for Mr Chen and concern for national security, called off campaigning.

However, in southern Taiwan, which is DPP country, the party used all means - broadcasting vans, unlicensed radio stations, cellphone messages and so on - to spread the word that the opposition had collaborated with China to kill the President.

This led effectively to a swing of votes away from Messrs Lien and Soong, whose goodwill was repaid with venom.

Hence the refrain from the many thousands who braved the elements to demonstrate outside the presidential palace: 'We are not just supporting Lien and Soong, but more important, truth, justice and fairness.'

Taiwanese people do have an innate sense of fair play.

It's that last sentence I can't really agree with; I see an awful lot of partisanship amongst the Taiwanese, and it seems the foreign reporters tend to fall on one side or the other.