Woo Sang-ho "Victory within 1-2%... Likely a close race until the day of"

Published 02 Mar.2022 10:34(KST)

"Prevent Violent Drivers Like Yoon from Becoming President"
"Choosing a Lane Is Also Wisdom"
Opposition Encourages Early Voting, "Now a Natural Thing"

Woo Sang-ho, the General Election Campaign Headquarters Chief of the Democratic Party of Korea, is attending the headquarters chiefs meeting of the campaign headquarters held at the central party office in Yeouido, Seoul on the 2nd, delivering opening remarks. Photo by Yoon Dong-ju doso7@

[Asia Economy Intern Reporter Kim Jung-wan] Woo Sang-ho, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, predicted regarding the presidential election race, "It seems the outcome will be decided within 1% or 2%, but ultimately, the decisive factor in the race will be which candidate's camp has stronger cohesion."

On the 2nd, Woo said on MBC Radio's 'Kim Jong-bae's Focus' program, "It's really a razor-thin situation, so it looks like the close contest will continue until election day."

Woo stated, "Our candidate Lee Jae-myung is very weak among the 20s and the full-time housewife demographic in their 30s and 40s. Although the recent upward trend is encouraging as there are signs of some shift in this group, the disadvantage remains clear," adding, "Therefore, we are focusing our appeals on the floating voters residing in the Seoul area, especially moderate and progressive floating voters."

He said, "In fact, many people give up voting because they don't have a candidate they support," and added, "While our candidate Lee Jae-myung has shortcomings, we are appealing that we must prevent a reckless driver like candidate Yoon Seok-youl from becoming president, and that Lee is truly a competent economic president who gets things done."

He also said, "The general tendency of floating voters is that they don't have a candidate to vote for, so they decide not to vote this time. Usually, that's the case," and added, "So, in any case, choosing the lesser evil in an election is also wisdom."

When asked if the surge in COVID-19 cases would affect voter turnout, he replied, "If there were a lockdown preventing voting, it would have an impact, but there is a one-and-a-half-hour window from 6 to 7:30 a.m. allowed for confirmed patients and quarantined individuals," adding, "Nationwide, one and a half hours is enough time to guarantee voting for 100,000 to 200,000 or even 700,000 to 800,000 people."

Regarding the People Power Party's encouragement of early voting, he said, "It's enough to just vote, but the history of inciting suspicion of fraud in early voting is not an attitude the conservative camp should take," and added, "Now, asking people to vote early is a natural thing."

He continued, "The early voting system was created to increase voting opportunities for those who find it difficult to vote," and said, "From that perspective, I think it is desirable."

Regarding candidate Lee's announcement of a 'Joint Declaration for Political Change' with Kim Dong-yeon of the New Wave party the previous day, he said, "While the other side (the opposition) failed to unify their candidates, this side is showing a model where like-minded people join hands and unite, regardless of calculations about how much it will help in vote counts."