Chen's troubles far from over

The 55-year-old Chen survived the recall bid Tuesday after the opposition failed to win the support of 148 lawmakers, or two-thirds of the 221-seat parliament.

Chen apologized to the nation for the scandals dogging his family and called for dialogue with his opponents and China after surviving the vote but the opposition vowed to continue its campaign.

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The scandals erupted in mid-May after Chen's son-in-law was arrested on charges of insider trading. The president's wife Wu Shu-chen was also accused of accepting department store vouchers in exchange for political favours.

While Chen survived the vote, analysts warned that it was only a brief respite with the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) and its People First Party (PFP) ally still dominating parliament.

"This battle may have come to an end, but the war is not yet over despite the failure of the recall motion," said George Tsai, a professor at Chengchi University.

"The opposition are not going to stop pressing the president to resign ... like collecting signatures and the PFP are even threatening to launch a no-confidence vote in the cabinet."

KMT chairman Ma Ying-jeou said the party would continue with its campaign to oust Chen, and had already collected 1.76 million signatures for a petition to remove the president.

What started as a campaign against the alleged corrupt practices of Chen's family and government has developed into a political battle between the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the opposition, which favors friendly ties with China.