Taiwan Voters Elect New President

At his festive appearance, with fireworks going off overhead, Ma said he regarded the large mandate with "humility" but also as an opportunity to carry out his election promises with full backing from the public. "In a way, we have to be very careful, very prudent," he said, responding to suggestions that Taiwanese might resent the Nationalists' dominance. "But on the other hand, it says that Taiwan should be very open, very pragmatic, that it should not isolate itself."

The slump in support for the Democratic Progressive Party also reflected public dissatisfaction with the corruption scandals that erupted under Chen, particularly in his second term. His son-in-law was convicted of insider trading and his wife was put on trial on charges of diverting public funds to her own use. The defense minister recently resigned under a cloud, and Chen, a prosecutor said, could face charges once he is out of office.

"Chen was always doing something wrong," complained Li Pinshen, who runs a little sidewalk restaurant in central Taipei and voted for Ma. "It was time for a change."

Many Taiwanese also voiced unease with the way Chen pushed his independence agenda at the expense of relations with the Bush administration. The United States has been Taiwan's main supporter and arms supplier since Chiang Kai-shek fled here with his defeated Nationalist forces after Mao Zedong took over in China in 1949.

"In the last eight years, relations with the United States have been severely damaged because of the adventurism of this administration," Ma charged. One of his first priorities will be to put U.S.-Taiwanese ties back on course, he said.

One big irritant was the U.N. referendum. Chen described it as an exercise in Taiwanese democracy. But Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice qualified it as provocative and meaningless, saying it was a backhanded way to suggest a change in Taiwan's status quo.

The measure asked voters whether Taiwan should apply for U.N. membership under the name Taiwan, even though Taiwan has no chance of gaining U.N. membership. Only 23 countries recognize Taiwan as a state, and China, which considers it a wayward province, sits on the Security Council with veto power.

Only about 35 percent of those voting supported the measure, far fewer than the 50 percent of registered voters necessary for passage. A second measure, sponsored by the Nationalist Party, was also defeated, by a similar margin. Proposed mainly as a foil to the Chen measure, it asked whether Taiwan should apply for U.N. membership under its official name, the Republic of China, or any other name deemed suitable.

Special correspondent Jane Rickards contributed to this report.