Pres. Campaign Kicks Off with Record High Number of Candidates

The 22-day official campaign period for the 17th presidential election kicked off today as the deadline for candidate registration passed on Monday.

Three additional presidential hopefuls - former Grand National Party (GNP) chairman Lee Hoi-chang, Heo Gyeong-yeong of the Economy Republican Party, and Lee Soo-sung of the People’s Coalition for Harmony and Advance - registered with the National Election Commission on Monday, the last day of the two-day registration period. A total of 12 candidates have registered for the presidential race.

The nine candidates who registered on Sunday were Chung Dong-young of the United New Democratic Party, Lee Myung-bak of the Grand National Party, Kwon Young-ghil of the Democratic Labor Party, Rhee In-je of the Democratic Party, Sim Dae-pyong of the People First Party, Moon Kook-hyun of the Creative Korea Party, Jeong Geun-mo of the True Owner Coalition, and Geum Min of the Korea Socialist Party.

This is a record number of candidates for presidential elections in Korea. The largest number of candidates was in the 1987 and the 1992 presidential elections, respectively, with a total of eight each.

Registered candidates were given numbers according to the number of seats their parties possess in the National Assembly. The UNDP’s Chung received No. 1, followed by frontrunner Lee. Former GNP chairman Lee was given No. 12, the last number.

Unlike the 2002 presidential election, which was a two-way race between the pan-ruling camp and the conservative camp, several candidates have emerged from both sides. Thus, it is expected to become a multilateral race, and the results of the prosecution’s investigation into the BBK financial scandal and alliances between candidates will act as big variables in the election.

Candidates launched their full-fledged campaign across the country on November 27 at the onset of the official election campaign period.

GNP candidate Lee began his official campaign at midnight at the Dongdaemun Market, Seoul. He promised merchants at the market that he will revive the economy to benefit the working class families.

Independent Lee plans to visit the National Memorial Board to pay his respects in the morning and to declare his determination to win the election and to launch his official campaign at the Sungnyemun, located next to his camp office in Namdaemun, Seoul.

UNDP’s Chung also launched his official campaign at midnight in front of the Yeosu City Hall, South Jeolla Province, while waiting for the result of Yeosu’s bid to host the 2012 World Expo to be made with a crowd of citizens.

Voters can have easy access to the documents that the candidates submitted to the National Election Commission at the election watch dog’s website (www.nec.go.kr) or at the e-politics portal (http://epol.nec.go.kr). The documents contain a wide range of information, including their assets, military service, tax payments, criminal history, and academic background.

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