Tsai Ing-wen, chairwoman of Taiwan's main opposition party, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), announced Friday to stand in the 2012 Taiwan leader election.

Tsai will firstly compete with other DPP members in the inner-party primary contest.

Lu Hsiu-Lien (Annette Lu), former deputy chief in the Taiwan authority, announced last month to run for the 2012 election.

In 2008, the Kuomintang (KMT) Party's Ma Ying-jeou won the island's leadership election.