Rep. Moon Jae-in, a lawyer-turned-liberal politician, won his third straight victory Tuesday in the ongoing primary race of the main opposition Democratic United Party (DUP), further increasing his chances to run in December's presidential election.
The DUP's third regional primary was held in Wonju, about 90 kilometers east of Seoul, where 10,102 residents of Gangwon Province registered to cast their votes. Moon won 2,837 of the total 6,187 votes cast, or 45.85 percent, bringing his accumulated total over the past three primary races to 19,811 votes, or 55.34 percent.
His winning streak comes as no surprise as the 59-year-old candidate has led public opinion polls in competition with three other contenders for the party's nomination.
Sohn Hak-kyu, a former DUP chief, came second in the Gangwon Province race with 37.63 percent, followed by former South Gyeongsang Province Governor Kim Doo-gwan with 10.96 percent and former Trade Minister Chung Sye-kyun with 5.56 percent.
"What's more important than coming in first place is creating a strong drive through this race for a change of government," Moon was quoted as saying by his spokeswoman after the results were announced. "It's more important to conduct a race that reaches out to the people and gains their trust."
The Gangwon Province primary came after a brief boycott by Sohn and Kim over the weekend. The two contenders had claimed the party's mobile voting system was biased in favor of Moon, but they returned to the race Monday after the party found only a small percentage of disputable votes.
The DUP is expected to pick its standard bearer for the Dec. 19 presidential vote on Sept. 16. If no candidate wins 50 percent or more of all votes in the primary race, the party is scheduled to hold a run-off on Sept. 23. (Yonhap)