Polls Show GNP Lead Increasing

In the upcoming May 31 local elections, the Grand National Party (GNP) is increasing its lead in nine out of 16 races where candidates from the GNP and the Uri Party are competing for upper-level government positions.

According to polls conducted on May 20 and 21 by Dong-A Ilbo and the Korea Research Center (KRC), GNP candidates are leading in 11 places, including Daejeon and Jeju, where GNP candidates are catching up with Uri candidates.

However, Chin Dae-je, an Uri candidate, is catching up with Kim Moon-Su, the GNP candidate, in the Gyeonggi provincial governor election.

Uri candidates are losing to Millennium Democratic Party candidates in Gwangju and South Jeolla Province and thus making poor progress in eleven out of fourteen places, except in Gyeonggi, Daejeon, and North Jeolla Province.

Especially, polls on May 21 show that GNP candidates increased its lead or reduced the difference except in Gwangju after Chairwoman Park Geun-hye was assaulted.

Thus, the attack on the chairwoman seems to have made some impact on the upcoming local elections. The difference between GNP and Uri in party support has increased to 22.0%, the highest gap since Uri Party was formed. The percentage of GNP support increased from 39.3% to 41.5%, while that of Uri support dropped to 19.5%, its first fall under 20% since its formation.

In Seoul, the support difference was 32.4% between Kang Kum-sil, Uri candidate (24.3%), and Oh Se-hoon, GNP candidate (56.4%). The difference in the polls conducted on May 2 was 18.0%.

Myoung-Gun Lee sunny60@donga.com gun43@donga.com