Ruling Party Leads 8 Areas, Opposition 3

Ruling Grand National Party candidates to run in the June 2 local elections are leading in Incheon, Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province, the results of a survey said Monday.

The main opposition Democratic Party is leading in three races in its traditional stronghold of the Jeolla provinces.

The Dong-A Ilbo and Korea Research Center conducted a telephone survey of voters in 16 cities and provinces Sunday and Monday.

In Incheon, the ruling party’s Ahn Sang-soo (40.8 percent) was leading the Democratic Party’s Song Young-gil (31.7 percent).

Fellow ruling party candidates Kim Beom-il (57 percent) in Daegu and Kim Gwan-yong (55.9 percent) in North Gyeongsang held large leads over their competitors.

Democratic Party candidates, however, had big leads in the Jeolla provinces, including Kang Woon-tae (56.5 percent) in Gwangju; Kim Wan-joo (59.5 percent) in North Jeolla Province; and Park Joon-young (61.4 percent) in South Jeolla Province.

Dong-A had earlier announced the results of its own survey in Seoul, Gyeonggi Province, the Chungcheong provinces, Busan, South Gyeongsang Province, Ulsan, Jeju Province, and Gangwon Province.

Overall, the ruling party is leading in eight areas: Seoul, Busan, Daegu, Incheon, Ulsan, Gyeonggi, North Gyeongsang, and North Chungcheong. The Democratic Party is ahead in three regions: Gwangju and South and North Jeolla Province. Independents are leading in Jeju and a close competition is occurring in Daejeon, South Chungcheong, South Gyeongsang, and Gangwon.

The survey polled 8,600 people, including 800 people each in Seoul and Gyeonggi and 500 each in the remaining 14 areas. The standard margin of error is ±3.5 percentage points in Seoul and Gyeonggi and ±4.4 percentage points for the remaining 14 areas had a confidence level of 95 percent.

yongari@donga.com