Tory leadership hopeful Andre Bachand has dropped out of the race citing a lack of support.

In riding votes, Bachand ranked fifth of the seven candidates vying for party leadership, with less than four per cent of the support of the party's 45,000 members.

Bachand, an MP who is the only francophone seeking the leadership of the federal Conservatives, announced his decision to withdraw his bid at a press conference in Ottawa Monday morning.

"It has become obvious that I cannot win," he said.

"It's not a financial decision. It's based on the result of the (polling data). To be honest, we were hoping to have more delegates ... but I was late entering the campaign.''

Bachand says he'll now throw his support behind Peter MacKay, who is considered to be the front-runner in the race to succeed party leader Joe Clark.

"I believe that Peter is the best person to revitalize the PC party and to launch a decade of decision. I will help him and ask my supporters to help him," Bachand told reporters.

MacKay led riding votes with 42 per cent, while David Orchard, a Tory outsider who ran previously for the leadership on a platform of environmentalism, nationalism and more restrictive trade rules, earned 25 per cent of delegates.

The other leadership candidates are Calgary lawyer Jim Prentice, Nova Scotia MP Scott Brison, and two fringe candidates, Heward Grafftey and Craig Chandler.

The party is scheduled to pick a new leader at a Toronto convention on June 1.

With a report from The Canadian Press