Taiwan's Supreme Court Friday rejected an opposition appeal to overturn the result of the election of Taiwan leader in March 2004, which was narrowly won by Chen Shui-bian, candidate for the Democratic Progressive Party.

The opposition, which had been leading in almost all opinion polls ahead of the election, has charged that alleged irregularities and an election-eve shooting in which Chen and his running mate Annette Lu were slightly wounded led to Chen's victory.

Opposition leaders Lien Chan, then the candidate of Kuomintang (KMT) or the Nationalist Party, and James Soong, running mate of Lien but from the People First Party, alleged that emergency measures invoked after the shooting prevented thousands of soldiers and police from voting in the poll.

Source: Xinhua