The pro-independence candidate of Taiwan's ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), Lai Ching-te, is preliminarily leading in Saturday's election for the island's leader, Taiwanese media reported, citing data showed after half an hour of vote counting.

Lai Ching-te is leading with 34.2% of the votes, followed by Ko Wen-je of the Taiwan People's Party who favors dialogue with Beijing and the United States, with 28.9% of the votes, and Hou Yu-ih of the main opposition Kuomintang party who supports gradual resumption of dialogue with mainland China, with 28.4%, according to Sanlih’s broadcast of the vote count from the polling stations.

The broadcaster did not specify how many percent of the ballots had already been counted or when the counting would be completed.

(With UNI Inputs)