U.S. Observer Team Praises Taiwan for Conducting Fair, Free Balloting : Elections: But the congressional group warns against arresting opposition leaders. And it lists flaws in the voting process.

A delegation of U.S. congressional observers Sunday praised Taiwan for having just conducted what the Americans called its most honest election in four decades, but they warned against any postelection arrests of opposition leaders.

“Our key judgment was that this year’s election was the most free and fair in Taiwan’s history,” the five-member delegation said in a statement released at a press conference. “On the other hand . . . we cannot say that, by any objective standard, it was fully free and fully fair.”

The statement listed uneven access to electronic media, limitations on free speech, legal restrictions on former political prisoners, possible election-day abuses and Taiwan’s lack of a genuinely democratic constitutional structure as major areas of concern.

The delegation also declared: “We believe it would be unfortunate if the good will, which has been generated through this electoral exercise, were dissipated in the days and weeks ahead by the harassment and arrest of candidates who have made controversial statements.”

In balloting Saturday, the opposition Democratic Progressive Party made significant gains against the ruling Nationalist Party. Competing for the first time in an election in which organized opposition parties were legal, the Democratic Progressive Party established a solid base of grass-roots political strength by taking control of the top executive position in six big cities or counties, including Taipei county, which surrounds the island’s capital. The Nationalists won in 14 cities or counties, and an independent candidate took one mayor’s slot.

The Democratic Progressive Party, the island’s only significant opposition party, also won 21 seats in the legislative Yuan. While far less than a majority--the legislature is dominated by Nationalist Party members who did not need to face reelection--this figure nearly doubled the opposition’s previous strength, and for the first time, gives it enough seats to enjoy the legal right to introduce legislation.

The election was marked by the strong impact of decades-long tension between the island’s native-born majority and those who fled the Chinese mainland in 1949 with the Nationalist government to escape the Communists. Taiwan’s political structure is still based on the claim of the Nationalist government to represent all of China--a claim the ruling party uses to avoid truly open national elections that might enable an opposition party to take over the island’s government.

At a jubilant victory rally early Sunday morning, You Ching, an opposition legislator who won the office of Chief Executive of the Taipei county government, worked an excited working-class crowd, using the Taiwanese dialect, which generally is understood only by the approximately 85% of the population with ancestral roots in Taiwan.

You urged about 5,000 singing, clapping supporters to refrain from any violence protesting an unexpected delay in releasing official results of the Taipei county race, but to continue their rally until authorities formally confirmed his victory. The rally ended peacefully shortly after 3 a.m., when You was officially named the winner in the most important race of the election.

A similar scene in the city of Tainan developed into a tense standoff outside county government headquarters that lasted well into the day Sunday, according to reports from that southern city. About 2,000 Democratic Progressive Party supporters gathered to protest alleged vote-rigging, which they charged was costing their candidate victory.

However, the crowd dispersed early today when the losing candidate, Li Tsung-Fan, said that the street protest should end but that the dispute would be taken to court.

Tsai Shih-yuan, deputy secretary general of the Democratic Progressive Party, said at a Sunday press conference in Taipei that the opposition will challenge the results in four races--Tainan county, Nantou county, Taichung city and Hsinchu city.

Tsai also expressed optimism that authorities will not attempt to imprison any of a group of Democratic Progressive Party candidates who during the campaign openly advocated a formal declaration of Taiwanese independence from China.

While Taiwan functions in most ways like an independent country, the Nationalist government in Taipei and the Communist government in Beijing agree that the island legitimately is part of China. The two regimes certainly argue over which government is the proper ruler of China.

Many leaders of the Democratic Progressive Party would prefer to end this situation by declaring a Republic of Taiwan, but under Taiwan’s national security law, it is illegal to say anything publicly in favor of such actions.

Rep. Stephen J. Solarz (D-N.Y.), chairman of the House subcommittee on Pacific and Asian affairs, and head of the congressional observer group visiting Taiwan for the election, said in a brief interview after Sunday’s press conference that he and his fellow congressmen are concerned about talk that some opposition candidates who publicly took a pro-independence stance might soon be arrested.

Tsai, at the opposition party’s press conference, expressed confidence that the government will not dare to make such arrests.

“We believe there will be many cases under investigation, but we do not expect prosecutions,” Tsai said. “I don’t think the KMT (Nationalist Party) is that stupid.”