Lee Jae-myung-'?'-Ahn Cheol-soo-Sim Sang-jung... Next March Presidential Election Landscape to Be Finalized This Week

Ahn Cheol-soo Announces Presidential Candidacy
Democratic Party Officially Launches Campaign Committee on 2nd
People Power Party Confirms Presidential Candidate on 5th

The view of Cheongwadae from Namsan, Seoul on the 11th. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Naju-seok] The landscape for next March's presidential election will be finalized this week. The main opposition party will decide its final candidate on the 5th, and the ruling party will launch its election campaign committee on the 2nd. "Kingmaker" Kim Jong-in, former emergency committee chairman of the People Power Party, is preparing to enter the presidential race, while Ahn Cheol-soo, leader of the People’s Party, officially declared his candidacy on the 1st, marking the start of a multi-candidate contest. Policy battles between ruling and opposition candidates, as well as intense negotiations for unification to attract Ahn Cheol-soo, Sim Sang-jung, and Kim Dong-yeon, will also begin in earnest.

Following Ahn’s official presidential candidacy announcement on the 1st, Hong Joon-pyo, a leading presidential candidate of the People Power Party, immediately proposed a "joint government theory," likening it to the past DJP (Kim Dae-jung-Kim Jong-pil) coalition. Another People Power Party candidate, former lawmaker Yoo Seung-min, also expressed his intention to start unification talks, stating, "It would be very foolish to proceed with the election without making efforts to unify with a third-zone candidate." All of this is based on the calculation that winning the closely contested presidential election requires drawing on Ahn’s "centrist expansion" appeal. The ruling party is expected to take steps to embrace Sim Sang-jung of the Justice Party and former Deputy Prime Minister for Economy Kim Dong-yeon.

The Democratic Party, which had been conflicted over the chemical fusion between candidates Lee Jae-myung and Lee Nak-yeon, will also form a "one team" and enter the presidential election system. On the 2nd, an election campaign committee involving all 169 affiliated lawmakers will be launched. Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate, is focusing on forming a melting-pot campaign committee that embraces the camp of former leader Lee Nak-yeon. It is known that lawmakers Seol Hoon and Hong Young-pyo from Lee Nak-yeon’s camp will serve as co-chairs of the campaign committee.

Voting to select the People Power Party’s final presidential candidate among four candidates?Yoon Seok-youl, Hong Joon-pyo, Yoo Seung-min, and Won Hee-ryong?will take place from the 1st to the 4th, with results announced on the 5th. According to a public opinion poll conducted by the Korea Society Opinion Institute (KSOI) commissioned by TBS (from the 29th to 30th of last month, with 1,016 adult men and women aged 18 and over, and a margin of error of ±3.1 percentage points at a 95% confidence level), former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl recorded 32.4% support if he becomes the People Power Party candidate, showing a close race within the margin of error against candidate Lee (33.2%). When Hong is the candidate, he recorded 28.3%, also showing a close race within the margin of error against candidate Lee (33.2%).

Meanwhile, Kim Jong-in, the former emergency committee chairman of the People Power Party, who has attracted attention for whom he will support among the party’s candidates, appears to have chosen Yoon Seok-youl. It was reported on the day that some close aides from Kim Jong-in’s emergency committee and personnel from former lawmaker Geum Tae-seop’s side, who have communicated with Kim, have already joined Yoon Seok-youl’s campaign.

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