Choi Jae-hyung's Side "Objection to Poll Distortion... 'Reverse Selection Prevention' Needed in Primary"

People Power Party presidential candidate Choi Jae-hyung, former Auditor General (Photo by Yonhap News)

[Asia Economy Reporter Kum Boryeong] The campaign team of Choi Jae-hyung, former Auditor General and a presidential candidate from the People Power Party, expressed regret over the results of a recent public opinion poll.

On the 17th, Park Dae-chul, Chief Strategy Officer of Choi’s campaign, held a briefing titled "Problems with the Public Opinion Poll" and stated that they would "file an objection procedure with the Central Election Poll Deliberation Commission" regarding the poll conducted by the Korea Society Opinion Institute (KSOI).

The 'Suitability of Next Presidential Candidates' poll released by KSOI the previous day included 10 candidates, but Choi was excluded. The survey was commissioned by TBS and conducted nationwide from the 13th to 14th, targeting 1,007 respondents aged 18 and older.

In response, KSOI explained, "The 10 candidates listed in the 'Suitability of Next Presidential Candidates' are composed by gathering the top five candidates from the 'progressive' and 'conservative' camps in the previous survey round." They added, "In the 25th survey (August 6-7), Choi Jae-hyung ranked 6th in the conservative camp, following Won Hee-ryong, and therefore was excluded from the 26th survey’s list of next presidential candidates for both ruling and opposition parties."

However, Choi’s campaign team stated that they could not understand this reasoning. Lee Gyu-yang, Public Relations Special Advisor, criticized, "It is incomprehensible and unprecedented to exclude Choi Jae-hyung, who has formed the top four among ruling and opposition candidates in almost all previous surveys." He added, "In a situation where public opinion polls greatly influence elections, why conduct such arbitrary surveys? Is there really no underlying motive?" Choi had ranked 4th in the previous 25th KSOI 'Suitability of Next Presidential Candidates' poll as well.

Choi’s team also pointed out the problem of reverse selection in the poll. Park said, "Looking at the 1,007 respondents in this KSOI conservative camp next presidential candidate suitability poll, 388 were People Power Party supporters, while 426 supported the ruling camp parties: Open Democratic Party (73), Democratic Party (319), and Justice Party (34). In the survey conducted a week earlier, among 1,004 respondents, 336 supported the People Power Party, and 480 supported ruling camp parties including the Democratic Party (367), Open Democratic Party (81), and Justice Party (32)." He criticized, "There is a serious reverse selection occurring in the question about the next conservative presidential candidate. It is like asking Japanese people to select the South Korean national soccer team ahead of the Korea-Japan match." Park emphasized, "The People Power Party’s polls must include provisions to prevent reverse selection."

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