Ahn Cheol-soo "Accepting People Power Party Unification Plan, Willing to Endure Disadvantages" (Comprehensive)

[Asia Economy reporters Naju-seok and Park Joon-yi] Ahn Cheol-soo, the People’s Party candidate for Seoul mayor, announced on the 19th that he would accept all the unification proposals presented by Oh Se-hoon, the People Power Party candidate. With the sudden resolution of disagreements between the two sides, it is expected that after a public opinion poll soon, the unified opposition candidate for Seoul mayor will be confirmed by early next week.

Ahn Cheol-soo, the People's Party candidate for Seoul mayor, is holding a press conference on the 19th at the National Assembly Communication Hall regarding the "unification with Oh Se-hoon, the People Power Party candidate for Seoul mayor." Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

On the morning of the same day, Ahn held an emergency press conference at the National Assembly and said, “I will accept the unification proposals requested by Kim Jong-in, the emergency committee chairman of the People Power Party, and Oh Se-hoon, the People Power Party candidate for Seoul mayor,” adding, “Even if it is disadvantageous and unreasonable to me, I will endure it if it can quickly achieve unification.” Ahn stated, “We must quickly finalize the unification so that the unified candidate appears from the official election day on the 25th, not the day before the ballot printing on the 28th.” He emphasized, “Let’s stop talking about who is advantageous or disadvantageous now. Whoever becomes the unified candidate of the ruling party, if that candidate wins, wouldn’t the entire opposition win as well?”

Lee Tae-gyu, secretary general of the People’s Party, told reporters after the press conference, “The strongest demand from the People Power Party side was to reflect landline phone surveys in the public opinion poll,” and explained, “We have decided to accept this demand.” The People Power Party requested that landline phones be reflected by 10% in the competitiveness survey. This landline phone survey method generally yields results favorable to conservative voters, which is why Oh’s side prefers it. However, Lee said, “Discussion on the reflection ratio is necessary.”

With Ahn accepting the People Power Party’s demands, the working-level negotiation teams from both sides are scheduled to meet to discuss specific public opinion poll methods. Kim, the emergency committee chairman of the People Power Party, upon hearing the news of Ahn’s press conference, expressed a welcoming stance, saying, “I think it is fortunate,” and “He responded without being too late.”

Meanwhile, Ahn and Oh were originally scheduled to complete their candidate registrations at 10 a.m. on the same day. However, instead of registering, the two candidates held a sudden meeting. It is known that the two candidates agreed to unify before the 25th. Oh plans to hold a press conference in the afternoon to announce his position regarding Ahn’s press conference.

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