By Ryu Chang-gi
Two progressive parties announced their candidates for the Dec. 19 presidential polls, Sunday.
The Unified Progressive Party (UPP) announced that Lee Junghee, former party co-chairman, would be its nominee, while the Progressive Justice Party (PJP) – which recently split from the UPP – named co-chair Sim Sang-jung.
The candidates accepted their nominations at separate events.
“I will prevent the ruling Saenuri Party from winning the election, and also concern myself with taking responsibility for laborers and farmers,” Lee said during her acceptance speech.
Sim, who along with several like-minded lawmakers recently left the scandal-ridden UPP, said a strong showing in the polls would help the new party solidify its base.
Officials of the Sim camp said it wants to garner 5 percent of the total vote by attracting new voters from among low wage earners.
The separate candidates reflect turmoil on the left side of the political spectrum. The two factions were unable to field a single candidate due to infighting following the April general elections.
Lee was chosen through the party’s presidential primary while Sim was elected at a national convention.
Lee won 64.92 percent, or 8,622 votes of the aggregate vote total, compared with 35.08 percent, or 4,659 votes, earned by Min Byung-yeol, the former acting chairman of the UPP.
Recent poll shows that Lee’s approval ratings hover 3.0 percent compared to the 0.5 percent earned by Sim.
With only 60 days to go before the presidential election, both progressive candidates were dissatisfied with the split and threw blames each other for the deadlock.
The minor liberal party UPP currently has six seats in the National Assembly and the PJP has seven.