Sharpened Ahn Cheol-soo and Oh Se-hoon... Could This Lead to a Three-Way Race?

Negotiation Deadline 4 Days Away, Clash Intensifies... Ahn Cheol-soo "Is the Three-Party Structure Unraveling?"

Ahn Cheol-soo, the People's Party candidate for Seoul mayor (left), and Oh Se-hoon, the People Power Party candidate for Seoul mayor (Photo by Asia Economy DB)

[Asia Economy reporters Naju-seok and Geum Bo-ryeong] The deadline for the unification negotiations between the two opposition candidates for Seoul mayor, Oh Se-hoon and Ahn Cheol-soo, is just four days away, but both sides have yet to agree on issues such as TV debates and survey questions. Both candidates, continuing their fourth round of working-level talks on the 15th, maintain the position that "unification must be achieved." However, this stance partly stems from the concern that running separately would hand an 'easy victory' to Park Young-sun, the Democratic Party candidate. In other words, if future polls confirm that either Oh Se-hoon or Ahn Cheol-soo has the competitiveness to beat Park in a three-way race, the unification talks risk breaking down at any time.

At the election countermeasures committee meeting that day, Candidate Oh pledged, "Unification must happen no matter what. Since we promised the 19th as the deadline, we will not miss it under any circumstances." Candidate Ahn also emphasized at the Supreme Council meeting that "to judge (the current administration), we must win, and to win, the opposition must unite." However, when it comes to the details of unification, both sides exchanged sharp criticisms, foreshadowing a difficult negotiation process ahead.

Candidate Oh said, "If unification happens with Candidate Ahn and a prominent external presidential contender joins, next year's presidential election could be the worst, held with a divided opposition. I deeply worry about this." This is a warning that unification under Candidate Ahn would ultimately lead to opposition division and defeat in the presidential race. Kim Jong-in, the emergency committee chairman of the People Power Party, also harshly criticized Ahn's side, saying, "Someone who cannot properly debate cannot be a Seoul mayor candidate," and "Negotiations that avoid such things cannot happen."

Candidate Ahn retorted, "(Candidate Oh) said I have always been at the center of division and will continue to be a candidate who breeds division," and asked, "Is this something you can say to a unification negotiation partner?" He also added, "Now that my approval rating has risen a bit thanks to the recent Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH) scandal, are you trying to lay the groundwork for a three-way race?"

Both Candidates Oh and Ahn show a rigid attitude with no concessions in unification centered on themselves, and the precarious unification negotiations could be greatly shaken depending on future three-way race poll results. In fact, the unification discussion was shaken once as the leading candidate's support shifted from Ahn to Oh. According to a poll conducted by SBS through Next Interactive Research on the 13th with 1,008 Seoul citizens (wireless phone automated response, 95% confidence level ±3.1 points, cell weighting method), support in the three-way race was Park 27.4%, Oh 26.1%, and Ahn 24%. Park had been significantly ahead in the three-way race, but the gap with Oh and Ahn has narrowed considerably. For other details regarding the poll, please refer to the Central Election Poll Deliberation Commission website.

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