The Wire

Taiwan, a country of 23 million people, is undergoing a period of upheaval coinciding with it’s election over the weekend, the outcome of which is still unclear. President Chen Shui-bian, Leader of the Democratic Progressive Party or DPP, claimed victory with a margin of less than 30,000 votes out of a total of 13 million. However the extreme closesness of the final tally lead to ongoing protests in the streets by supporters of the opposition KMT party, whose leader Lien Chen gained a high court injunction sealing ballot boxes, and seeking a recount. Tensions in the Taiwan strait rose last week when France and China staged unprecedented joint naval exercises, and during an election-eve rally there was an assasination attempt on both current Taiwanese leaders. Politics, is both a passionate and recent phenomenon in a country previously ruled by the KMT under authoritarian martial law for almost 40 years. This is only it’s third election. John Baird reports about Taiwan’s history.