It’s looking more and more like Lee Myung-bak is going to be facing two or three “major” opponents in the December 19 elections.
Sohn Hak-kyu finally wins something.
Sohn Hak-kyu won the “cell phone primary,” of the United New Democratic Party (AKA: UNDP or Uri 2.0) beating Chung Dong-young 7,649 to 7,004. Lee Hae-chan came in third but did well enough to stay in the race.
Chung is still ahead in the total tally (Hanky link above):
The former prime minister has so far secured 58,129 votes, compared to 45,500 for Sohn and 35,926 for Lee.
Chung is still well ahead but this vote plus the legal problems surrounding his campaign may have broken the momentum he had following a string of wins he got in votes before the summit.
The next round of primaries includes Sohn’s political home turf in the capital region, so he could take another bite out of Chung’s lead (if he doesn’t boycott the rest of the race, that is).
I don’t know if the UNDP has a run-off system but I hope so for their sake. A nominee who got 40% or less of the primary vote would not help with party unity, especially in the current circumstances.
The Done Deal (again) with “Mr Anti-FTA.”
Kwon Young-gil got the Democratic Labor Party’s nomination way back on September 15. He only got in the single digits last time around but I think he could get around 8 percent this time because he has a corner on a divisive issue; the FTA with the US (Hanky):
“I will make South Korea into a country without workers’ rights problems, without a Korea-U.S. FTA, and with farmers who can work in happiness.”
Since all the Uri 2.0 candidates supports the FTA, some of the third of voters who are strongly against it may drift towards Kwon. I saw on the news the other night that Kwon is pulling 13-16% in hypothetical three-way matches with Lee Myung-bak and various UNDP candidates.
This is Kwon’s third presidential campaign.
A savior on the way?
There is a dorsal fin sliding around the UNDP boat. It belongs to Moon Kook-hyun, who is emerging as a possible challenger to the UNDP candidate as the main opponent of Lee Myung-bak.
(UPDATE) The GNP smells a rat in the Moon candidacy (JoongAng):
The GNP sees a conspiracy afoot. “The pro-Roh liberals are pretending to pick Lee Hae-chan as their candidate, but the climax of this puppet show is that they are probably going to back Moon Kook-hyun later,” GNP Spokeswoman Na Kyung-won said, referring to the former CEO of Yuhan-Kimberly Ltd. who announced his presidential bid late last month.
If that is true, it would give Moon an organizational base for his candidacy, especially after he forms his new party next month.
6 Comments
“cel phone primary”?
Yeah, I heard Mickey Mouse was the swing vote.
Don’t really have anything to say about this topic, except that I think Assemblywoman Na Kyung-Won (mentioned in the second article) is one of more attractive politicians in Korea.
ZZOOzzoo,
I think that most folks at the Hole would agree.
Perhaps the craziest line we ever hear in politics is “the unified left” - yeah, right.
Leonard Cohen said there was a war. It was also between the left and the right, between the black and white, and other.
After all, if Leonard Cohen doesn’t count as a holy man, who is left?
Even though some expressed doubts over Mr. Moon, he seems to possess virtues that are lacking in most other candidates. If he is “picked” by Roh though, the act, alone, is like being licked all over by a cow — rough, uncomfortable and not a very appealing act.