Taipei - Taiwan's presidential contest has narrowed amid the fallout of China's military crackdown in Tibet as the two candidates pressed for support two days ahead of the vote, analysts said on Thursday.
They said China's response to unrest in Tibet has enabled ruling party chief Frank Hsieh to close the gap on Ma Ying-jeou ahead of Saturday's ballot by attacking his call for a common market and peace treaty with Beijing.
Ma had a commanding 20-point lead in the last allowed opinion poll 11 days ago before a pre-election ban took effect, but that was before the deadly unrest in Tibet focused attention on Taiwan's own future.
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The self-ruled island split from the mainland in 1949 but is still claimed by China, and the pro-independence Hsieh has argued that a Ma administration would make eventual reunification more likely.
"Ma's lead over Hsieh is narrowing," said George Tsai, a political science professor at Chinese Cultural University.
"The issues of 'one China common market' and Tibet are brewing and the DPP has indeed fared well over the past few days linking Taiwan and Tibet," Tsai added, referring to Hsieh's Democratic Progressive Party.
Still, he said he expected Ma to win by five to six percent on the back of a widespread malaise over Taiwan's sluggish economy.
"The economy remains the major concern of the general public," he added.
On the campaign trail, Hsieh accused Ma's opposition Kuomintang of buying votes with a scheme to hire polling booth monitors and mobilise voters.
"As the Kuomintang feel their lead has narrowed, they hope to consolidate their slim lead by the vote-buying measures," he told a press conference as his campaign spokesperson said the two candidates were in a dead heat.
A KMT spokesperson flatly denied the vote-buying charges as "groundless."
"Hsieh saying the lead has narrowed is just propaganda to boost the morale of their supporters," Lo Chih-chiang added.
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