DPP starts primary in presidential campaign

Taiwan's pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party has launched its primary for the 2012 presidential election, with three strong candidates contesting party nomination.

Former Taiwanese premier Su Tseng-chang is the third DPP heavyweight to announce a presidential bid, taking on party chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen and former vice-president Annette Lu Hsiu-lien in the 45-day primary.

Registration for the primary started yesterday and Su's chief aide, Wang Min-sheng, said Su would register his candidacy with the party at 10am tomorrow.

The timing of Su's registration would just precede that of 54-year-old DPP chairwoman Tsai, who is scheduled to register her candidacy an hour later. 'It is just a coincidence, which has nothing to do with fighting for first place to get registration,' said Wang, referring to some news reports that Su wanted to beat Tsai to become the first person to register after Tsai caught him off guard by declaring her presidential bid on March 11.

Su, 63, seen as Tsai's strongest competitor, was originally expected to be the second senior DPP figure to declare his bid, after Lu announced her intention to run on February 28.

Su and Tsai represented the party in unsuccessful campaigns for Taipei mayor and Xinbei mayor in November. Last year's Xinbei campaign was Tsai's first race for public office, with Su widely regarded as the more experienced campaigner.