Taiwan premier drops of out of presidential primary

TAIPEI, May 6 (Reuters) Taiwan Premier Su Tseng-chang said today he was dropping out of the race for the presidency after lagging ex-premier Frank Hsieh in the first phase of the party primary.

The ruling DPP's candidate will run against the opposition KMT's Ma Ying-jeou, widely seen as the frontrunner for the 2008 vote.

The KMT is viewed as more friendly to China, while the DPP is independence-leaning, which has ruled Taiwan since 2000 and Beijing has refused to deal with.

China views Taiwan as a renegade province, which Beijing says must be reunified with the mainland by force if needed.

Political observers said Su's pull-out in the first phase of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) primary might mean that Hsieh would be a near certainty to represent the party in the 2008 race.

''For party unity and a future victory for the party and for Taiwan, Tseng-chang at this time has decided to withdraw from this primary and I will fully support the victor in this primary,'' Su said, speaking at a televised news conference.

In today's race, Hsieh obtained around 45 percent of a total of 140,720 votes cast, while Su took about 33 percent, according to a Reuters calculation based on figures from TVBS and Formosa TV news stations.

The DPP will announce the official figures later in the day.

There are two phases in the DPP's primary. Today was the first phase where by party members cast their votes for their preferred candidate.

The result of the vote accounts for 30 per cent of any candidate's final score, while the remaining 70 per cent will be determined by public opinion polls to be held after the vote.

DPP is due to announce on May 12 who will be its presidential candidate.

The other two candidates who contested in Sunday's primary were DPP chairman Yu Shyi-kun and Vice President Annette Lu.

REUTERS SM RK2058