Taiwan court steps into polls row

Protests have erupted across the country after incumbent President Chen Shui-bian narrowly beat Lien Chan.

Chen was re-elected by just 30,000 votes, a day after surviving an apparent assassination attempt.

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Lien said the shooting had unfairly influenced the election and demanded that the results be annulled.

Chen won by a margin of less than 1 percent of the votes cast - so slim that Lien's nationalist Kuomintang Party has asked the courts to force the central election committee to hold a recount.

About 330,000 ballots were rejected during the count - 11 times the size of Chen's winning majority.

The High Court ordered all ballot boxes sealed to preserve evidence following a request by Kuomintang lawyers.

Despite President Chen's victory, a referendum on relations with China failed to muster enough support.

Hours after the results were announced, protests erupted across the island.