Hsieh, a former premier, will take on Ma Ying-jeou of the Kuomintang in the presidential race scheduled for March next year.

In a joint press conference, Hsieh and his beaten adversaries appeared together to symbolize the solidarity the ruling party needs to win the presidential and legislative elections.

Unless the Central Election Commission makes a last-minute change, voters will go to the polls to elect a new Legislative Yuan in December.

Hand in hand, the four rivals in the DPP primaries on Sunday vowed to work closely together to make Hsieh's election a reality.

Nineteen nominees were chosen through Sunday's primaries to take the seats for lawmakers at large the party may win in the legislative elections. About ten of them are expected to get the seats.

Another 27 won a bid to become regional lawmakers. They have to undergo the test of an in-house poll scheduled for May 14-16.

According to a DPP bylaw, the outcome of the primaries represents only 30 percent of the score needed to win the nomination. The poll supplies the remaining 70 percent.

Eligible voters would cast two ballots in the December elections, one for a candidate and the other for a political party, to elect 79 regional lawmakers, one from each single constituency, and 34 at-large representatives, according to proportional representation.

Hsieh led the other three co-hosts of the press meeting, dubbed "Victory in the Presidency, Majority in the Legislature," to call for party solidarity to win the forthcoming elections. The ruling party, which has never controlled a parliamentary majority, wishes to wrest it from the opposition in the year end races.

"I wish to thank all three colleagues for placing the interests of the party above all," Hsieh said.

All three losers conceded defeat, making the party forego the May 9-11 straw poll, which might have turned divisive.

Premier Su Tseng-chang was the first to withdraw from the nomination race on Sunday. DPP chairman Yu Shyi-kung, who virtually conceded by saying he would stop campaigning, declared his withdrawal before he met Hsieh again in his office at noon.

Vice President Annette Lu, who insisted Sunday that the poll be called as scheduled, made a turn-around and conceded defeat.

That prompted Trong Chai, acting DPP chairman, to call a special meeting of the central executive council in the evening to amend the bylaw that requires an in-house poll as part of the party primaries.

The amendment was adopted to eliminate the poll as a requirement.

"Competition was keen," Hsieh said of the primaries. "It's unavoidable that some of us were hurt," he went on, adding: "Let's forgive each other and go on fighting to win the presidency for a better future of Taiwan."

Taiwan needs renewal, the DPP standard bearer said. "That requires us to win a majority in the legislature," he pointed out.

Su Tseng-chang promised whole-hearted support for Hsieh and all on others to do the same for victory of the Democratic Progressive Party.

Annette Lu addressed Hsieh as "Future President Hsieh." "I dropped my insistence on the poll so that he might have more time to prepare for the 2008 election."

"The voluntary withdrawal (by the three losers) surprised the electorate," Yu Shyi-kun said. "That's a victory for all (four) of us," he stressed. "It's the victory of the Democratic Progressive Party."