[On-site in] Exit Poll Shows 'Neck-and-Neck'... People Power Party Stirred: "Unexpected Result"

Yoon Seok-yeol and Lee Jae-myung in a Tight Race, Different Outcomes
Serious Expressions, Shaking Heads... "I Will Wait Humbly"

The leadership of the People Power Party is watching candidate Yoon Seok-yeol observe the close exit poll results from the three major broadcasting stations in the vote counting situation room set up at the National Assembly Library on the 9th. Photo by Yoon Dong-ju doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporters Junyi Park, Boryeong Geum, Hyunji Kwon] On the 9th, exit poll results from the three terrestrial broadcasters (MBC, KBS, SBS) and JTBC showed an extremely close race in support rates between Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party presidential candidate, and Yoon Seok-yeol, the People Power Party presidential candidate, leaving the People Power Party visibly unsettled, calling it an "unexpected result."

The atmosphere inside the People Power Party's vote counting situation room, set up in the National Assembly Library auditorium, froze instantly when the exit poll results were announced at 7:30 PM.

Until just before the results were released, the venue was highly excited. This was because, based on the party's own internal survey results earlier that morning, predictions had been made that candidate Yoon would achieve a landslide victory with a margin of around 10 percentage points.

However, when the unexpected results came out, the expressions of People Power Party leaders sitting in the front row of the situation room?Lee Jun-seok, party leader; Kwon Young-se, election campaign headquarters chief; Kim Ki-hyun, floor leader; Won Hee-ryong, policy chief; Chung Jin-suk, National Assembly deputy speaker; and Bae Hyun-jin, supreme council member?hardened, revealing their embarrassment. They watched the broadcast screen with serious faces, tilting their heads in confusion or murmuring among themselves.

After the results were announced, Chief Kwon stated in an interview with KBS, "The margin was smaller than we expected, so I think it’s surprising," adding, "Since any poll is just a poll, we will wait humbly until the results come out through the actual vote count."

Regarding the reason for the close race between the two candidates, he explained, "We cannot guess where the difference between our (internal) survey and the exit polls came from, so ultimately, we have no choice but to wait humbly until the actual confirmation through the vote count."

Kim Byung-min, spokesperson for the People Power Party’s election campaign headquarters, said on JTBC, "I believe the people made efforts to balance their votes until the very last moment," and added, "Regardless of the final outcome, we will seriously accept the solemn choice and the will of the people, and whoever is elected should deeply reflect on public sentiment."

Kim Jae-won, a supreme council member of the People Power Party, appeared on Channel A and assessed, "If the poll showing a 1.0% lead did not reflect early voting, then the early voting phase was likely unfavorable for the People Power Party." He continued, "The conservative camp was worried about election fraud and thus voted less early, while the Democratic Party side, centered on Honam, was highly mobilized and voted early in large numbers. If those results were not reflected, then we have no choice but to be more tense about the outcome."

Meanwhile, the exit polls from the three terrestrial broadcasters showed candidate Lee at 47.8% and candidate Yoon at 48.4%, a 0.6 percentage point lead for Yoon. In contrast, JTBC’s exit poll showed Lee at 48.4% and Yoon Seok-yeol at 47.7%, a 0.7 percentage point lead for Lee.

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