TAIPEI, Taiwan, March 23 (UPI) -- A fistfight broke out in Taiwan's parliament Tuesday over a proposed recount of the ballots that won President Chen Shui-bian re-election by a thin margin.
The president's Democratic Progressive Party had proposed revising the election laws to allow a recount, but opposition legislators wanted an executive order that would begin the recount immediately, Taiwan's United Daily News reported.
In his first television appearance since the election, Chen Tuesday welcomed a vote recount and denied allegations he rigged the election or staged the assassination attempt that wounded him slightly on Friday and apparently won him a sympathy vote that swung the election his way.
His opponent in the election, Kuomintang candidate Lien Chan, complained the shooting incident and the security measures that followed kept 37,000 soldiers from voting. He claimed most of them were supporters of his party.
In Taipei, thousands of people remained camped out in front of the presidential office, vowing they would not go home until there was a recount.
Taiwan's stock market fell by 6.7 percent, and stocks in Hong Kong and South Korea also fell in response to the turmoil.
