[JURIST] Taiwan's Supreme Court Friday rejected an opposition appeal to overturn the result of a disputed 2004 presidential election won by Chen Shui-Bian [official website] in a close race. In the March election Chen defeated Nationalist Party candidate Lien Chen [BBC profile] by fewer than 30,000 votes out of 13.5 million cast. Lien had charged election irregularities [JURIST report] and contended that a shooting that occured one day before the election [JURIST report] in which Chen was slightly injured by an unknown assailant was a ploy to win sympathy and votes. Lien also charged that emergency steps taken after the shooting prevented thousands of soldiers and police from casting their votes. In the weeks following the election results hundreds of thousands of demonstrators marched around Taipei to protest the result. The Supreme Court ruling Friday upheld a December 2004 High Court decision [JURIST report] that found no widespread irregularities in the voting. AFP has more.