UNDP Gets 14 Percent Turnout for Primary

The United National Democratic Party completed the voting process for its primary yesterday.

The party held its primary yesterday to select its presidential candidate in eight cities and provinces: Seoul, Daegu, Incheon, Daejeon, Gyeonggi, Chungnam, Jeonbuk, and Gyungbuk. It also conducted a third round of mobile phone voting on October 13 and 14.

The party plans to hold a convention in Seoul this afternoon to disclose the final outcome of the primary. The result will take account of the votes from the National Election Committee that were tallied yesterday and sealed, the party’s election committee count on October 15, the third round of mobile phone voting, and opinion polls conducted on October 10 and 11.

Former Uri Party Chairman Chung Dong-young, the leading candidate of the party, and former Gyeonggi Governor Sohn Hak-kyu, in second place, both expressed confidence about the primary outcome. Former Prime Minister Lee Hae-chan said, “I’ll comply with the choice of the election committee and the voting outcome.”

Meanwhile, criticisms of “poor primary management” emerged in the provincial primary yesterday as some people who applied to participate in the primary were not registered and were not allowed to vote.

Lee’s wife Kim Jung-ok and UNDP member Kim Hee-sun could not cast their votes when they found out at their polling station that their names had not been registered.

Lee’s spokesperson Kim Hyung-joo said, “We got the information that, in Jeonbuk, a certain candidate colluded with a taxi company and transported voters to the polls,” which would be illegal.

In yesterday’s primary vote in eight cities and provinces, only 14.3 percent of the 805,534 voters cast their votes by 5:00 p.m. Only Jeonbuk recorded a turnout higher than 15 percent.

tesomiom@donga.com