TAIPEI, March 13 Kyodo More than ...

TAIPEI, March 13 Kyodo

More than 23 million commonalty on Saturday took part in islandwide rallies organized by dint of the opposition camp to call for change and the replacement of President Chen Shui-bian in nearest weekend's election.

bulky crowds, estimated at 3 million by way of the Nationalist Party (KMT) and its political ally, the the public First Party, waved national flags and hallooed ''Replace Chen to save Taiwan'' at the rallies as the clock ticked to 3:20 pm An independent account of the supporters was not immediately available.

Amid a cacophony of air horns and cheering, presidential hopeful Lien Chan of the KMT said Taiwan extremitys a power transfer so as to maintain peace and prosperity forward the island.

''Taiwan the public have suffered a lot across the past four years suitable to Chen's inability to expound the cross-strait stalemate and to overwhelm the economic downturn, record high unemployment and the widening deficiency gap,'' he said.

After his language to supporters gathered in forehead of the presidential palace, Lien knelt down to kiss the earth, a action echoed by his running mate James Soong in central Taichung City.

Chen ran the 2000 campaign forward an anti-corruption platform, which extreme pointed the KMT's 51-year rule. KMT maverick Soong missing the presidency by a slim margin and Lien finished a distant third.

Since last November, independence-leaning Chen has annoyed Beijing and disquieted Washington due to his aggressive push for an election-day referendum

Chen argued that the referendum should be held to strengthen Taiwan's democracy as well as to hinder the threat from China, which regards the island as a breakaway province that should be reunited at force if necessary.

According to a fresh poll, Lien leads Chen through 3 percentage points in the neck-and-neck race.

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