PPP may lose in election by 5% points as of now, says Lee Jun-seok

The main opposition People Power Party’s leader Lee Jun-seok said in a talk show event held at Waterway Park around Lake Andong in North Gyeongsang Province on Sunday evening, “If we have a presidential election now, we would lose by five percentage points because Busan and Daegu have a fewer number of our supporters than before.”

Lee analyzed that the victory in the 2012 presidential election by a gap of three percent points was thanks to former President Park Geun-hye but things have since changed. However, bringing up the Seoul and Busan Mayoral by-elections in April, he made it clear that the PPP can win the presidential election if it successfully garners support of voters in their 20s and 30s. His message seemingly intended to give a warning sign to the power struggle between presidential candidates and the party’s leaders at the goal of gathering supporters of the opposition.

“The tables will turn if we fail to look back at ourselves,” said PPP lawmaker Ha Tae-kyung, one of the party’s presidential candidates, on Sunday. “Let me ask the party’s leadership and other candidates keep a low profile.”


Sung-Yeol Yoo ryu@donga.com