South Korea’s presidential election is approaching, and the pattern of candidate battles changes
2022-02-14 09:49:30Source: CCTV News Client of China Central Radio and Television Station
As the countdown to South Korea’s presidential election begins, the pattern of the candidates’ “two powerhouses” has suddenly changed. The two presidential candidates with the highest support rate in the opposition camp revealed on the 13th that they were preparing to “join up” to jointly confront the ruling party’s common Democratic presidential candidate and current President Moon Jae-in’s popular “successor” Lee Jae-ming.
South Korean media speculate that the two candidates from the opposition camp are very likely to cooperate, and Lee Jae-ming may be at a disadvantage in the election.
South Korea’s presidential election is scheduled to be held on March 9, and the 13th to 14th of this month is the candidate registration day. Four popular presidential candidates have completed registration on the 13th. In addition to Lee Jae-ming, the presidential candidates of the opposition camp are Yin Xiyue, the presidential candidate of the National Power Party of the largest opposition party, An Zhexiu, the presidential candidate of the Nationalist Party, and Shen Sang-hee, the candidate of the Justice Party.
The results of a number of recent opinion polls show that among all candidates for the presidency, Lee Jae-myung, the former governor of Gyeonggi Province, and Yoon Seok-yue, the former prosecutor general, both had around 40% approval rates; Ahn Cheol-soo’s approval rate was about 10%, and Shen Sang-seo’s approval rate was about 3%. %.
Against the background of the “two strong” candidates, the voices of the opposition camp calling for Yin Xiyue and An Zhexiu to cooperate are rising. The two “jointly resist Li” is regarded as the most powerful guarantee for realizing the change of the ruling party.
Ahn Zhexiu has previously stated on multiple occasions that he has no intention of cooperating in the campaign. However, he suddenly announced a press conference on the 13th and formally proposed to join forces with Yin Xiyue to launch a single candidate against Li Zaiming.
Ahn Cheol-soo said, “It is important to win, but in order to overcome the current crisis and carry out future-oriented reforms, we should achieve an overwhelming victory based on the trust of the people. This cannot be done by one person alone. I hope that candidate Yoon Seok-wook will give a sincere answer.”
As for who to choose as a single candidate, An Zhexiu proposed to decide by means of polls. According to him, there is precedent for this approach. In the Seoul mayoral by-election last year, Ahn Cheol-soo decided to cooperate with National Power Party candidate Oh Se-hoon, who eventually won the election as a single candidate because Ahn fell behind in the polls.
Yin Xiyue told reporters later in the day that he had “positive comments” on Ahn’s proposal and would consider working with Ahn. However, he pointed to the “regrettable” aspects of Ahn’s plan, but declined to elaborate.
South Korean media speculate that since Yin Xiyue has a positive attitude towards Ahn Zhexiu’s proposal as a whole, the possibility of cooperation between the two is quite high.
The National Power Party, which Yin Xiyue belongs to, publicly criticized An Zhexiu’s proposal to “choose one from two” with the poll results. According to the National Power Party, supporters of the ruling party may deliberately choose the weaker side of the opposition party as a single candidate during the polling process, hoping to help the ruling party’s presidential candidate win. As a result, poll results may be “distorted” and cannot be used to select a single candidate.
A new poll shows that if Yin Xiyue and An Zhexiu join forces, they will “win” Li Zaiming. If the opposition camp elects Yin Xiyue as a single candidate after joining forces, his approval rate is 44.8%, higher than Li Zaiming’s 39.5%; if An Zhexiu is elected as a single candidate, he will get 45.6% approval rate, also higher than Li Zaiming’s 35.9%.