Taiwan opposition names candidate

TAIPEI (AP) ― Taiwan’s main opposition party says chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen has secured its presidential nomination after winning an island-wide telephone poll.

The Democratic Progressive Party is expected to announce Tsai’s nomination formally on May 4. The poll results were disclosed at a party press conference in Taipei on Wednesday.

The 54-year-old British and American-educated Tsai will face President Ma Ying-jeou in general elections in January 2012. Ma was the only candidate to register for the ruling Nationalists. His formal nomination is expected to be announced later Wednesday.

A cool-headed intellectual, Tsai has departed from the DPP’s anti-China tradition and promoted exchanges with the mainland. The two sides split amid civil war in 1949.