Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon and Ahn Cheol-soo Unite Amid Final Hurdles... "Narrowing Differences Over Poll Questions"

Public Opinion Poll Questions Narrowed Down to Competitiveness
Wired and Wireless Ratios Remain Controversial

[Asia Economy reporters Naju-seok and Park Joon-yi] The final negotiations for unification between the two opposition Seoul mayoral candidates, Oh Se-hoon and Ahn Cheol-soo, are finding common ground but have yet to reach an agreement. The People Power Party and the People Party have agreed on the direction of the poll to assess competitiveness, but are experiencing final difficulties over issues such as the ratio of landline to mobile phone surveys.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

On the 17th, the working-level negotiation teams of the People Power Party and the People Party met at the National Assembly, paused the unification talks, and are now consulting within their parties about the negotiation details.

Jung Yang-seok, Secretary-General of the People Power Party, told reporters, "We are finding common ground," and added, "(Regarding the poll questions) we agreed to accept the competitiveness question." He explained, "There was confusion about the competitiveness survey. The People Party mentioned a hypothetical one-on-one contest with candidate Park, while we seemed to avoid even the word 'competitiveness,' but that is not true."

Jung further explained, "In the case of a hypothetical one-on-one contest, there are practical limitations when multiple polling agencies produce close or differing results, making it mathematically impossible to combine or average them." He said the current issue is "the ratio of landline to mobile phone surveys in the polling."

Lee Tae-gyu, Secretary-General of the People Party, expressed continued resistance to including landline phone responses in the poll. Lee said, "Landlines carry a complete handicap," and argued, "In a situation where the poll could decide by 2-3%, why would anyone accept a handicap of several percentage points unless they are foolish?"

However, both sides have begun internal opinion gathering. The general negotiation atmosphere centers on what ratio of landline to mobile phone surveys will be accepted. Since landline respondents are more likely to be conservative voters, this is considered a relatively advantageous card for the People Power Party.

The working-level teams expect that if they reach an agreement within the day, they could announce the unified candidate as early as the afternoon of the 19th. They plan to conduct polls on the 18th and the morning of the 19th to secure the necessary sample size. Secretary-General Jung said, "It might take a day and a half," reflecting the mood. Secretary-General Lee also said, "We can conduct the poll until the morning of the 19th and announce the candidate in the afternoon. There is still physical time left."

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