Taiwan's opposition yesterday launched a new challenge to the March 20 vote, asking the High Court to nullify the entire election and order another one.

　　The request by Kuomintang Party candidate Lien Chan was part of his two-pronged legal strategy to overturn Chen Shui-bian's narrow victory.

　　Lien claims the vote was marred by irregularities and a mysterious election-eve shooting that wounded Chen.

　　Lien's first step came last week when he petitioned the High Court to order a recount - a move Chen endorsed.

　　The two sides are negotiating the details of the recount, and were scheduled to discuss the process with the High Court tomorrow.

　　Kuomintang spokesman Alex Tsai told reporters that Lien yesterday filed a petition with the High Court for a new election because Chen "used fraud to gain power ... and people will question the legality of his power in the next four years."

　　The opposition has also alleged that the March 19 shooting that grazed Chen's stomach and hit running mate Annette Lu's knee unfairly affected the election by giving Chen last-minute sympathy votes.

　　Chen won by only 0.2 percent.

　　Hours after the shooting, Lien opposed delaying the election because he said he was confident Taiwanese voters wouldn't allow their emotions to influence their voting.

　　But lien's lawyer said yesterday that officials should have postponed the vote because "there were many rampant violations of the law and the Election Committee didn't deal with them properly."

　　(The Associated Press)