(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - A former Seoul mayor seems to have enough public support to handily win this year’s presidential ballot in South Korea, according to a poll by Research Plus published in The Hankyoreh. 56.7 per cent of respondents would vote for Lee Myung-bak of the Grand National Party (GNP) in the election.

Three contenders seeking the nomination for the United New Democratic Party (UNDP)—assembled by Uri Party defectors—cannot reach the 10 per cent mark. Former Uri Party chairman Chung Dong-young has 9.7 per cent, followed by former Kyonggi governor Sohn Hak-kyu with 6.1 per cent, and former prime minister Lee Hae-chan with 3.6 per cent. The UNDP is set to choose its nominee on Oct. 15.

Roh Moo-hyun won the December 2002 presidential election with 49 per cent of all cast ballots as a candidate for the Millennium Democratic Party (MDP). In February 2004, Roh severed ties with the MDP and publicly voiced his support for the Uri Party. Lawmakers from the MDP and the GNP successfully voted to initiate impeachment procedures against Roh. Former prime minister Goh Kun briefly took over as interim president before the country’s Constitutional Court ruled in favour of Roh.

In August, Lee won the GNP’s internal primary with 49.6 per cent of the vote, defeating former GNP chairwoman Park Geun-hye. The GNP candidate has called for South Korea to take a harder line on North Korea and to promote free-market policies.

On Sept. 19, following the release of this survey, Sohn cancelled his appearance in a televised debate as well as his participation in several other media events. On Sept. 21, Sohn declared he would still seek the UNDP’s nomination, saying, "I’ve had many thoughts about what people expect from politics, what people want from me, and I reflected on myself as well. But I’m exasperated by the fact that old politics is recurring in the United New Democratic Party that has just started off with a banner of new politics, and worse than that, it is indulging the old politics without objection."

The next presidential election is scheduled for Dec. 19.

Polling Data

Which of these presidential hopefuls would you vote for in the election?

Source: Research Plus / The Hankyoreh
Methodology: Interviews with 1,000 South Korean adults, conducted on Sept. 17, 2007. Margin of error is 3.1 per cent.

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