TAIPEI, Taiwan - Taiwan's ruling party claimed incumbent President Chen Shui-bian won a tight election Saturday, a day after he survived an assassination attempt.

Taiwanese also voted separately on a referendum asking if Taiwan should beef up defenses if China refuses to withdraw missiles targeting the territory and whether to seek peace talks with Beijing.

Chen, 53, squeaked by with about 50,000 more votes than Nationalist Party leader Lien Chan after a hard-fought, cliffhanger campaign, according to unofficial results reported by TVBS cable news. A total of about 13 million ballots were cast, the station said.

Official results were expected later Saturday. There were 16.5 million eligible voters.

On the eve of the vote, gunfire hit Chen in the abdomen and Vice President Annette Lu in the knee as they rode through the southern town of Tainan on Friday, waving to supporters from an open-top Jeep.

Neither leader was seriously wounded, and some Nationalist Party members said the shooting helped Chen win crucial pity votes in the tight race.

But Joseph Wu, a senior Presidential Office official, said that "there were no sympathy votes." Wu said his party's internal polls showed Chen leading by 2 percentage points before the shots were fired.

The shooting was being treated as a criminal case - not a conspiracy or an attack that involved China, prosecutor Wang Sen-jung said Saturday. No suspects have been identified.

Even before the shooting, the election was unprecedented because it involved the first islandwide referendum. Results weren't ready for that vote, which focused on rival China's missile threat and pursuing talks with Beijing. The two sides split amid civil war in 1949.

The referendum revved up Chen's supporters, and gave the race - which might have been a dull rematch of the 2000 vote - an exciting twist. Chen's party has long wanted to hold such a referendum.

Earlier Saturday, Chen slowly strolled into a voting station in the capital, Taipei, surrounded by bodyguards armed with submachine guns. He walked stiffly, looking wan and serious. He smiled slightly as he dropped his ballot in the box and told reporters that gunshots would never derail Taiwan's democracy.

Chinese leaders have denounced the referendum, which they fear is a rehearsal for a vote on Taiwanese independence. The two sides split when the communists took over the Chinese mainland in 1949. Beijing wants Taiwan to rejoin the mainland and has threatened to attack if Taiwan seeks a permanent split.

China broke its official silence early Saturday about the assassination attempt, saying only that the government was following developments.