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Independent presidential candidate Ahn Cheol-soo kept a slight lead over his ruling party rival Park Geun-hye in a supposed two-way race, a poll showed Saturday.
Forty-eight percent of the 1,591 respondents in the Gallup Korea survey said they would vote for Ahn if the Dec. 19 election becomes a one-on-one contest between the two, while 45 percent said they would back Park.
The Sept. 24-28 poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points.
Ahn, a former computer software entrepreneur and university professor, has been ahead of Park in a hypothetical two-way race since he officially declared his presidential bid on Sept. 19 after months of contemplation.
In a supposed two-way race with opposition candidate Moon Jae-in, however, Park would get 46 percent and Moon 45 percent, the survey showed. Park also was way ahead of the two others in a three-way contest with 39 percent, followed by Ahn with 28 percent and Moon with 21 percent.
Election experts say Ahn and Moon are expected to ultimately join hands to select one of them as a unified candidate as they see little chance of beating Park if both remain in the race and split the vote. (Yonhap)