Major Christian churches in Taipei launched a prayer drive yesterday in an effort to promote social harmony in the wake of the bitterly fought March 20 presidential election.

More than 100 Christians from various churches gathered at a Presbyterian church adjacent to the Legislative Yuan in downtown Taipei early in the morning to pray for peace and harmony in Taiwan.

The one-hour prayer meeting was the first of a series of similar services to be held at the church over the coming 50 days.

During the fiery and bruising presidential campaign, voters were divided over their political preferences and even Christian churches were divided into pro-"pan-blue alliance" and pro-"pan-green camp" groups.

The political divisions became even more serious after incumbent President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) narrowly defeated the "pan-blue alliance" presidential candidate, Kuomintang Chairman Lien Chan (連戰). Lien has contested the election result with sometimes violent street protests and two lawsuits.

Reverend Chou Lien-hua took the initiative to invite major churches in Taipei to hold a joint prayer service at the Chinan Presbyterian Church each morning until May 30 with a view to promoting social harmony and internal unity.

"We must pray for this piece of land because our country is divided after the election. Not only are offices and families divided over politics, even Christian churches have also been divided," Chou said at the prayer gathering. "I earnestly hope that this series of prayer meetings can help mend political and ethnic divisions."

Speaking on the same occasion, Pastor Lee Yao-pin said Taiwan is so small that it cannot afford to see divisions over political, ethnic and regional differences.

"We must learn to pray for the political party or individual politicians we hate most in line with the biblical teaching of 'praying for your foes,'" Lee said.

Except for a small group of aboriginal tribes, most of Taiwan's 23 million people are ethnic Chinese, with the population divided into two sub-ethnic groups: the "mainlanders" - those whose families fled to Taiwan when the Chinese communists took over the mainland in 1949 - and the "native Taiwanese" - whose ancestors began arriving in Taiwan in the 17th Century or earlier.

The mainlanders, who make up about 15 percent of the population, largely support the opposition "pan-blue alliance" of the KMT and the People First Party, and their support base is in northern Taiwan.

The native Taiwanese control the south and they tend to favor President Chen's Democratic Progressive Party and the smaller Taiwan Solidarity Union, which jointly form the "pan-green camp."

The mainlanders traditionally support eventual unification with China, while the native Taiwanese lean more toward formal independence.