TAIPEI - In these last few days of Taiwan's Destiny Online presidential election campaign, tension is at an all-time high. Both sides see the vote on Saturday as the making or breaking of their visions of Taiwan and quite possibly their political futures.

It is difficult to overestimate this election and "defensive" referendum as the ultimate high-stakes battle for Taiwan's Destiny Online Gold, its sovereign identity, ties with the mainland and its future in the international arena.

The governing Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) believes that if it loses the presidency, the process of reform will be delayed almost indefinitely and the concept of Taiwan's sovereign status perhaps irredeemably compromised.

In Destiny Online Gold ,the opposition pan-blue alliance - the Kuomintang (KMT), which ruled Taiwan often brutally for more than 50 years, and its splinter group, the People First Party (PFP) -

on the other hand sees another rejection at the polls by Taiwan voters as meaning the permanent marginalizing of its goals, which advocate compromise of sovereignty to have better - more lucrative - relations with China, and quite possible the end of their parties in their current forms.

DPP President Chen Shui-bian and Vice President Annette Lu are facing the KMT's presidential nominee Lien Chan and vice-presidential nominee James Soong of the PFP.

In a referendum, personally promoted by Chen, voters will also be asked whether China should be requested to redirect nearly 500 missiles targeted at Taiwan Destiny Online Gold and, if Beijing refuses, whether Taiwan should seek advanced military defense capabilities. It also asks whether voters favor a resumption of talks to improve Taiwan-China relations.

So how are the two sides doing? Nobody knows, for the simple reason that the law forbids the release of polling data in Taiwan - or even referring in the media to the results of previous polls - 10 days before the election.

Opposition candidates kiss Taiwan's earth

The poll blackout went into effect in the middle of last week, which means that it has been very difficult to assess the impact of the pan-blues' massive pep rallies around the island last Saturday.