People Power Party rejects Ahn's poll unification... "Situation different from last year"

On the 14th, Kwon Young-se, Head of the People Power Party Election Countermeasures Headquarters, "Expressed Concerns About the Method"
Urged Ahn Cheol-soo to Make a Decision

Yoon Seok-yeol, the presidential candidate of the People Power Party, is announcing policy pledges related to "Judicial implementation trusted by the people and serving the people" at the central party office in Yeouido, Seoul, on the 14th. Photo by Yoon Dong-ju doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Geum Boryeong] Ahn Cheol-soo, the presidential candidate of the People’s Party, proposed a 'unification of opposition candidates' through a public opinion poll method, but the People Power Party officially expressed its refusal. The People Power Party plans to conclude the unification by urging Ahn’s decisive action, drawing attention to whether the power struggle between the two sides over the method will affect the election landscape.

On the 14th, Kwon Young-se, head of the People Power Party’s election campaign headquarters, said in a meeting, "Yesterday, candidate Ahn proposed unification, and we appreciate his courageous decision for regime change," but added, "We have concerns about the method."

The day before, Ahn proposed the public opinion poll primary method used in the April 7, 2021 Seoul mayoral by-election as a condition for unification. At that time, Ahn and Oh Se-hoon, the People Power Party candidate, used a method where two polling agencies each surveyed 1,600 people, asking half about 'suitability (800 people)' and half about 'competitiveness (800 people),' and combined the results. However, the People Power Party rejected this, citing concerns about reverse voting by ruling party supporters.

Accordingly, conflict over the unification method between the People Power Party and the People’s Party is expected to continue. Lee Tae-gyu, head of the People’s Party campaign headquarters, said on CBS Radio that "They keep talking about reverse voting, but the People Power Party’s method has no reverse voting prevention clause. Using that method, candidate Ahn lost last year, candidate Yoon became the presidential candidate, and party leader Lee Jun-seok was elected. They want to use their own method, so is it reasonable to propose a different approach?"

In response, Kwon said, "We evaluate that the situation is different from last year," and "including support rates, the type of election is different, and the situations of both candidates are different," drawing a clear line.

In the public opinion poll released that day, Yoon Seok-youl, the People Power Party candidate, still led Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party presidential candidate, by 3.1 percentage points. According to a survey conducted by the Korea Society Opinion Institute (KSOI) commissioned by TBS from February 11 to 12, targeting 1,005 people nationwide aged 18 and over, Yoon received 43.5%, ahead of Lee’s 40.4% within the margin of error (±3.1 percentage points at a 95% confidence level). Compared to last week’s survey (February 4?5) by the same institute, Lee’s support rose by 2 percentage points, while Yoon’s dropped by 1.1 percentage points. Ahn’s support was recorded at 7.8%, down 0.5 percentage points from last week. For detailed survey information, refer to the Central Election Poll Deliberation Commission website.

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