Mon, Mar 29, 2004 page3

• Chen trying to calm pan-green supporters

  • By Debby Wu / STAFF REPORTER
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  The Cabinet said yesterday that President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) response to the pan-blue camp's appeals on Saturday was designed to eliminate dissatisfaction among the pan-green supporters.

  Pan-blue supporters have been venting their frustration out on the streets of Taipei since the Lien-Soong ticket lost the election on March 20.

  A claimed 468,000 pan-blue supporters took to the streets two days ago, demanding a meeting between the leaders of the two camps, an immediate and complete recount of the ballots and an investigation into the assassination attempt and the initiation of the emergency security measures.

  With the crowds in front of the Presidential Office dispersed, Chen said he would go along with the blue camp's proposals and promised to cooperate with the judiciary on the recount.

  Cabinet spokesman Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday, "For almost a week pan-green supporters have been suppressed and felt frustrated."

  "They have clamored to hold a massive rally to counter the pan-blue rally. But it is not a good thing for the pan-blue supporters and the pan-green supporters to provoke each other, so President Chen's talk last evening was also intended to calm pan-green supporters," he said.

  "President Chen Shui-bian chose to hold a press conference after the March 27 rally had finished because by then the Central Election Commission had officially declared his re-election, and the US had issued an official statement to congratulate him on his re-election," Lin said. "Plus it was difficult to predict the result of the pan-blue rally, so the president had to wait till the rally finished to give his talk."

  Lin said that he thought the timing of Chen's speech was appropriate because many foreign reporters were still in the country to observe the pan-blue rally, so it was necessary for Chen to explain what was going on and what was on his mind.

  "If the president chose to speak before the rally, it might have resulted in pan-blue supporters making more unreasonable demands. So the president finally decided to respond to their demands after the rally finished," Lin said.

  "The President has the duty to keep the capital secure. While he responded to the pan-blue supporters' appeals, he also adopted a firm stand to evict the few people who remained on Ketagalan Boulevard after the rally finished so that most people's daily lives wouldn't be affected," Lin said.

  Meanwhile, the Cabinet declared that it would cooperate with the Judicial Yuan on the recount.

  Lin said the election controversy is gradually being solved as the Judicial Yuan will be able to hold the recount soon.

  "The amendment to the Presidential and Vice Presidential Election and Recall Law (總統副總統選舉罷免法) can be halted because there is no consensus between the caucuses in the legislature, and it will take four months of negotiations before the amendment can be voted on in the legislature. It cannot solve the problem in time," he said.
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