Deadline for Taiwan poll recount
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TAIPEI, Taiwan (CNN) -- Taiwan's high court has given lawyers for President Chen Shui-bian, and opposition candidate Lien Chan five days to reach agreement on how to recount the disputed presidential vote.
During a two-hour hearing on Friday, lawyers for opposition leader Lien argued that only the ballots cast for Chen and around 300,000 ballots declared invalid should be recounted. They also said the government should pay for the recount.
Attorneys for the incumbent leader are pushing for a recount of all votes.
"Both sides should negotiate the terms of the recount and re-submit their cases in five days," Judge Wu Ching-yuan, head of the three-member tribunal, told a hearing packed with reporters.
The issue sparked violent protests in Taiwan by Lien's supporters, after Chen won by a scant 30,000 votes, or less than 1 percent.
Lien has blamed Chen for preventing tens of thousands of security personal from voting by activating the national security systems.
Lien also says the mysterious election-eve shooting, which slightly wounded Chen and Vice President Annette Lu, unfairly caused a swelling of sympathy votes.
Chen denies these charges and claims.
With no leads in the case, Taiwan police Friday released pictures from the March 19 shooting.
Police want to question the people in the pictures, a man with a girl on his shoulders and another person facing away from the camera.
No arrests have been made, no weapons found and no suspects identified in the shootings, despite an offer of $400,000 for information about the suspects.
