bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Former Taiwanese vice-president Annette Lu Hsiu-lien of the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party has surprised supporters and opponents by dropping out of the race  for the island's president in 2012.
Lu, 67, announced her decision  in a news conference yesterday,  calling it an 'enlightenment from God', and that  she wanted to devote her life to protecting the environment in the wake of the devastating earthquake and radiation leak in Japan. 
The news came just hours before fellow DPP member and  former premier, Su Tseng-chang, officially declared his intention to seek  the party's nomination.
Analysts said Lu's exit  would turn  the  nomination into a head-on clash between Su and party chairwoman Dr Tsai Ing-wen, who  caught Su unawares  earlier this month by declaring  her desire to run for the seat of the president.
Lu had been due to host a news conference to detail her views on cross-strait policy when she announced that she no longer wanted to take part in the  DPP primary which began on Monday. 
She  was the first DPP heavyweight to declare her presidential intentions  on February 28. 
'I will no longer take part in the DPP primary and I give my blessing to anyone who wants to do so,' said  Lu, who earlier  said she had hoped to become the island's first female  president.
Her announcement was welcomed by party members,  including Tsai and Su. 
'I greatly appreciate what she has done to maintain unity within  the party and I hope the DPP primary can take place in a peaceful and harmonious manner,'  said Tsai.
The outspoken Lu has long been seen as a firebrand within the  party because of  her often sharp criticism of  the DPP leadership. Her subsequent plan  to run for  president lead to concerns that party unity would be damaged. 
However, Lu,  snubbed the party leadership for its failure  to stop the  infighting, saying she no longer wanted to remain on  the  central executive committee. 
'I will  resign from the central executive committee,' she said, adding that she  had no plan to help either Su or Tsai with their campaigns for president  because 'I don't think they need me, and nor do I feel comfortable with them running  Taiwan'.
Lu said she would continue to pursue the 'normalisation of cross-strait relations and peaceful co-existence between Taiwan and China'.
Hsu Yung-ming, a professor of political science at Soochow University, called Lu's withdrawal a wise move, since she had been left on the margins amid a duel  between Tsai and Su. 
'Lu  declared her bid almost a month ago,  but her popularity has been  low and if she insisted on  joining the primary, she had little chance to win,' Hsu said.
The DPP will hold the  primary through five islandwide public opinion surveys instead of having party members vote for the nominees. 
Lu has said that the system was unfair to her given that she has a lower media exposure than the other candidates.  
The DPP is scheduled to announce the nominee  on May 4.




Outspoken candidate Lu drops out of race for Taiwan's president