Oh Se-hoon and Ahn Cheol-soo Simultaneously 'Yield'... "Will Accept Opponent's Proposal"

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 Reporter Geum Bo-ryeong] Oh Se-hoon, the People Power Party candidate, and Ahn Cheol-soo, the People’s Party candidate, who are pushing for unification in the Seoul mayoral by-election, have both expressed willingness to "yield" regarding the polling method. Oh is willing to accept Ahn’s proposal of 100% mobile phone polling, while Ahn is willing to accept the People Power Party’s emphasis on 10% landline polling.

At 3:30 p.m. on the 19th, Ahn held a press conference at the National Assembly and stated, "I will accept everything."

Ahn said, "Oh proposed reflecting competitiveness and suitability each at 50%, and suggested asking respondents only one of the two items?either suitability or competitiveness. However, Kim Jong-in, the emergency committee chairman of the People Power Party, additionally demands including 10% landline polling, which is the party’s position. This is quite difficult to understand, but I will accept that as well."

He continued, "If what I know is different, I ask Chairman Kim and candidate Oh to specify exactly what they want. I will accept everything as requested."

Ahn added, "The important thing is to quickly achieve unification so as not to disappoint the people any further. Since I said I would accept everything, I hope the working-level negotiation team will resume immediately."

Oh, on the other hand, expressed willingness to accept the 100% mobile phone polling method that Ahn had advocated. At the same time, Oh said, "In the face of the absolutely critical value of unifying the opposition candidates for Seoul mayor and regime change, I am willing to yield and decisively accept the demands of candidate Ahn. Although it goes against the basic principles of polling, I will accept Ahn’s proposal of 100% mobile polling."

Oh emphasized, "I accepted Ahn’s proposal and revised it yesterday, which Ahn accepted (one polling agency for suitability, another for competitiveness). The obstacle was the mixed landline and mobile polling, but I am yielding and decisively accepting conducting the survey solely by mobile, excluding landlines."

He also said, "This decision may cause me political damage by not being selected as the unified opposition candidate. However, I will follow the people’s supreme mandate to reclaim the Seoul mayor’s office and establish a foothold for regime change. I sincerely hope that my decision will lead to regime change."

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