TAIPEI, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Su Tseng-chang, former head of Taiwan's "Executive Yuan", will stand in the 2012 Taiwan leader election, according to Su's office on Sunday.

Su is to participate in the inner-party primary contest of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), Taiwan's main opposition party, the office said.

Su will first compete with other DPP members, including Tsai Ing-wen, chairwoman of the DPP, and Lu Hsiu-Lien (Annette Lu), former deputy chief in the Taiwan authority, who both previously announced to run in the 2012 election.

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

Su served as chairman of the DPP prior to his appointment as head of Taiwan's executive authority in January 2006. He announced his resignation from the post in May 2007.