March 22 (Reuters) - Shares of Digital World Acquisition

Corp ( DWAC ) rose 3.2% in premarket trading on Friday ahead of

shareholders' vote to approve the blank check firm's merger with

former U.S. President Donald Trump's media and technology

company.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in February

allowed the merger after more than two years of setbacks to

Republican presidential candidate's Trump Media & Technology

Group (TMTG) - the parent of his social media firm Truth Social

- to complete a stock market listing.

The vote, which begins at 10:00 a.m. ET (1400 GMT), would be

the final step in completing the merger that would value TMTG at

as much as $8.6 billion. The merger was first announced in 2021.

The shell vehicle's stock has surged 144% since the

beginning of this year as Trump tightened his grip on the

Republican nomination for president, raising bets that his

re-emergence as a political figure would make Trust Social more

valuable.

Digital World, however, said in a regulatory filing last

month that Trump may divest his stake in Truth Social and cease

any involvement in its management based on how his bid for

president goes.

Digital World has also faced several hurdles in its bid to

complete the merger. It has been a target of investigations by

the U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange

Commission (SEC).

(Reporting by Medha Singh in Bengaluru, additional reporting by

Anirban Sen; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)