Presidential race enters final stretch with no overwhelming frontrunner

Yoon Suk-yeol, the presidential candidate of the main opposition conservative People Power Party, holds a press conference at the party's headquarters in Seoul's Yeouido, Sunday, to make a final proposal for fielding a unified candidate to candidate Ahn Cheol-soo of the minor opposition conservative People's Party. Joint Press Corps

Yoon says still willing to meet Ahn for single opposition candidacy

By Jung Da-min

The presidential race has entered its final stretch with none of the candidates taking an overwhelming lead.

A single opposition candidacy deal between main opposition People Power Party (PPP) presidential candidate Yoon Suk-yeol and People's Party presidential candidate Ahn Cheol-soo fell through Sunday, but Yoon said he is willing to meet Ahn and will continue to wait for his response to achieve a change of government.

The rupture in the candidacy merger deal came as the two leading candidates, Lee Jae-myung of the ruling liberal Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) and Yoon of the PPP, are still in a neck-and-neck race in many opinion polls, with just 10 days left ahead of the March 9 election.

According to a survey of 1,014 adults from Friday to Saturday by local pollster Embrain Public at the request of local news agency News1, 42.4 percent of the respondents said they support Yoon, followed by 40.2 percent backing Lee.

The gap between the rival candidates stood at 1.2 percentage points, falling within the margin of error. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points with a 95-percent confidence level.

In the previous Embrain Public-News 1 poll from Feb. 5 to 6, Yoon and Lee garnered 36.6 and 35.7 percent support, respectively.

In another survey of 1,000 adults conducted from Feb. 22 to 24 by local pollster Gallup Korea, 38 percent of the respondents said they support Lee, followed by 37 percent backing Yoon. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points with a 95-percent confidence level.

Lee Jae-myung, the presidential candidate of the ruling liberal Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), speaks while campaigning in Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province, Sunday. Newsis

While Lee's support rate increased by 4 percentage points from the previous poll conducted the week before, Yoon's support rate decreased by 4 percentage points.

Such surveys have showed that the gap between rival candidates is close, especially in the capital area including Seoul and Gyeonggi Province.

Final variables

While it is hard to predict the outcome of the upcoming election based on opinion polls, several final variables remain.

The matter of fielding a single opposition candidate through negotiations between the PPP and minor opposition conservative People's Party, in particular, has been at the center of attention.

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People's Party presidential candidate Ahn Cheol-soo made an official proposal to PPP candidate Yoon two weeks ago to field a single candidate.

A week after, however, Ahn withdrew his proposal, citing the differences between the parties over the method of fielding a single candidate. While Ahn insisted on holding a "national primary" between Ahn and Yoon, the PPP opposed it, calling on Ahn to make "a courageous decision," which was seen as an indirect call to back Yoon's single candidacy.

A polling station for the two-day early voting of the March 9 presidential election, slated for March 4 and 5, at Seoul Station between Jung District and Yongsan District, Friday. Yonhap

On Sunday, a day before the National Election Commission (NEC) prints the official ballots, Yoon held an emergency press briefing at the PPP's headquarters in Seoul's Yeouido, to make a final bid to Ahn to field a single candidate.

Yoon said the PPP made every effort to reach an agreement with the People's Party, holding many rounds of working-level negotiations, represented by Rep. Chang Je-won of the PPP and Rep. Lee Tae-kyu of the People's Party.

Yoon said the two sides had come within a whisker of reaching an agreement, including discussions on the details of a final meeting of Yoon and Ahn, but the People's Party at the last moment notified the PPP of a breakdown in negotiations.

"There was a request from Ahn's side for me to hold a press conference today to make an open proposal to Ahn to hold a meeting, which I accepted. The negotiation representatives of the two parties then agreed to decide over details of the meeting including the time and place to announce them to the media," Yoon said. "But unfortunately, the PPP and I received a final notification from Ahn and the People's Party that the negotiations for a unified candidacy have been disrupted."

Ahn Cheol-soo, the presidential candidate of the minor opposition conservative People's Party, speaks while campaigning in Suncheon, South Jeolla Province, Sunday. Joint Press Corps

Yoon said he explained the past process of negotiations to clarify to supporters of the conservative bloc that the PPP and Yoon have been committed to the matter of fielding a unified candidate.

"If candidate Ahn proposes to meet, I am willing to cancel other schedules to talk with him," Yoon said, before heading to North Gyeongsang Province for campaigning.

But Ahn and Rep. Lee of the People's Party blamed Yoon and the PPP for holding the press conference and accused them of making unilateral claims to avoid their responsibility for disrupting negotiations.

"I've reached a conclusion that the proposal from Yoon this morning was not worth considering," Ahn said.

He added that Yoon and the PPP made a false claim that holding a national primary had not been on the negotiating table, blaming them for showing no respect to their counterpart.

Meanwhile, Ahn carried on with his regional campaigning in South Jeolla Province.

Besides the issue of a unified conservative candidate, other variables, including a final TV debate among the presidential candidates, slated for March 2, and who will win more support from swing voters including the centrists, are expected to play a key role in the election outcome.

On the same day, Lee of the DPK continued campaigning in South Gyeongsang Province and Sim Sang-jung, the presidential candidate of the minor opposition progressive Justice Party campaigned on Jeju Island.

Sim Sang-jung, the presidential candidate of the minor opposition progressive Justice Party, speaks while campaigning at a local market on Jeju Island. Yonhap

Further details of the polls are available on the websites of the survey agencies or of the National Election Survey Deliberation Commission.