[Hotbed Public Sentiment - Namwon, Imsil, Sunchang] Lee Gang-rae and Lee Yong-ho in 'Tight Contest' with Highest Early Voting Rate Nationwide

Lee Gang-rae, the Democratic Party candidate (left), and independent candidate Lee Yong-ho, who ran in the Jeonbuk Namwon, Imsil, and Sunchang districts.
Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Jin-Young Hwang] The local government with the highest early voting rate in the April 15 general election was Namwon, Jeonbuk, recording 47.31%.

Sunchang-gun, which shares the same electoral district as Namwon, had the fifth highest early voting rate nationwide at 45.73%, and Imsil-gun (42.35%) also exceeded the Jeonbuk average (34.75%).

The high early voting rates in Namwon, Imsil, and Sunchang are analyzed to be related to the closely contested election race.

In Namwon·Imsil·Sunchang, where Lee Kang-rae of the Democratic Party of Korea is challenging for a fourth term and independent incumbent Lee Yong-ho is running, the race is tight with the leading candidate in opinion polls and the candidate with a high chance of winning differing, showing a mixed situation.

According to a poll conducted by Korea Research Co., Ltd. from April 4 to 6 on 503 voters aged 18 and over in Namwon·Imsil·Sunchang, commissioned by four Jeonbuk media outlets including Jeonra Ilbo, Jeonbuk Domin Ilbo, Jeonju MBC, and JTV Jeonju Broadcasting, Lee Yong-ho received 47.9% and Lee Kang-rae 43.2%. (For detailed information, refer to the Central Election Poll Deliberation Commission website.)

The gap between the two candidates was 4.7 percentage points, within the margin of error (±4.4 percentage points).

When asked about the likelihood of winning, Lee Kang-rae had 41.1%, and Lee Yong-ho 38.1%.

In a poll conducted on April 7 by Korea Information Research for Newsis Jeonbuk Coverage Headquarters targeting 511 residents aged 18 and over in the area, Lee Yong-ho received 49.2%, and Lee Kang-rae 38.8%.

The gap between the two candidates was 10.4%, exceeding the margin of error (±4.3 percentage points).

When asked about the likelihood of winning, Lee Yong-ho had 48.2%, and Lee Kang-rae 41.0%.

According to a poll conducted by Korea Research for KBS and Jeonbuk Ilbo on March 28-29, Lee Kang-rae received 42.9%, and Lee Yong-ho 45.2%.

The difference in support rates between the two candidates was 2.3 percentage points, indicating a close race within the margin of error (±4.4 percentage points).

However, when asked about the likelihood of winning, Lee Kang-rae scored 44.4%, higher than Lee Yong-ho’s 35.6%.

Lee Yong-ho, a former Kyunghyang Shinmun reporter, was elected in the 20th general election as a candidate of the People’s Party, defeating independent incumbent Kang Dong-won and Democratic Party candidate Park Hee-seung.

Lee Kang-rae served as a member of the 16th to 18th National Assembly and was appointed president of Korea Expressway Corporation under the current government, laying the groundwork for his political comeback.

Lee Kang-rae’s main pledges include “resolving the National Public Medical University establishment bill within the year” and “promoting early opening of the Okjeongho lakeside road.”

Lee Yong-ho pledged to “realize the actual amount of farmers’ allowance support” and “improve regional transportation networks and other SOC.”

Regarding the high early voting rate, the two candidates offered analyses favorable to themselves.

Lee Kang-rae said, “I believe that Democratic Party supporters have united and gained great strength to finalize, which gave me confidence that I will win.”

Lee Yong-ho said, “I think the high early voting rate is because the grassroots public sentiment has risen up.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.