Supporters of KMT candidate Lien Chan cheer in front of a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Taipei yesterday as his convoy drives past.
Voters go to the polls tomorrow in Taiwan's most closely contested race.
Their declaration, though not expected to have a large impact on the overall vote in terms of sheer numbers, was seen by analysts yesterday as ensuring that ethnic and ideological antagonisms would remain an issue in the race. This, they said, does nothing to Chen's support but will definitely detract from Lien's. A DPP insider told the Taipei Times last night that Chen would be touring southern Taiwan early today before heading up to Taipei, in an effort to focus voters on the issue of corruption in Taiwan. Taiwan put its armed forces on heightened alert, though Minister of National Defense Tang Fei stressed that there had been no sign of major military moves from the mainland. Yet as direly negative as the KMT campaign has become on the issue of the cross-strait threat, at least one leading light of Taiwan's society was prepared to make light of the situation.