Chen pro-independence party loses Taiwan poll

President Chen Shui-bian's party suffered a surprise defeat yesterday in elections which is likely to be welcomed in Beijing as a step back from what it sees as dangerous moves towards independence from mainland China.

Political analysts said the result indicated voters were wary of Chen's moves to create a separate Taiwanese identity and Beijing was likely to be pleased that the opposition Nationalist Party, which favours closer ties with China, kept control of parliament.

The Nationalists, also known as the Kuomintang, won 114 of 225 legislative seats including those awarded to its allies, the People First Party and the New Party. Another two seats were given to Nationalist Party members who had ran as independents.

They defeated Chen Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and its pro-independence ally, the Taiwan Solidarity Union, together won 101 seats. The rest went to independent candidates and other groups, the Central Election Commission said.

The DPP remains the single largest party with 89 seats and the overall results were very similar to that of the 2001 poll. The Nationalist alliance, known as the opposition under Taiwan's complex political system where policies are set by the president who appoints the cabinet, holds 51 per cent of seats in the current legislature.

Chen had hoped to win control of parliament to push through policies analysts saw as likely to antagonise Beijing. He had promised Taiwan's 23 million people a referendum on a new constitution in 2006 if his party won yesterday.

This plan suffers a setback with the Nationalist victory as two-thirds of lawmakers need to approve constitutional amendments under a bill passed by parliament in August.

Beijing is convinced Chen plans to declare statehood before his second term ends in 2008, and China has pointed more than 600 missiles at Taiwan in preparation for possible war. Chen has promised not to hold a referendum on independence but is assertive about the island's sovereignty. Taiwan and China split after the Nationalists lost a civil war in the mainland to the communists in 1949 and fled to the island, bringing with them the Republic of China government.

Police found packages of suspected explosives at Taipei's main railway station earlier this week, triggering a bomb scare. Voter turnout was relatively low at 59 per cent, compared to 66 per cent in the 2001 legislative poll.