By Lee Tae-hoon
Staff Reporter
The upcoming Seoul mayoral election on June 2 will likely be a contest between a younger candidate of the governing party and an older nominee from the opposition camp.
All three leading mayoral candidates for the governing Grand National Party (GNP) ― incumbent Mayor Oh Se-hoon, and Reps. Won Hee-ryong and La Kyung-won ― are in their 40s.
Oh, a 49-year-old former lawmaker of the GNP, was elected as the chief administrator of the capital in 2006. Won and La, both 46 years old and classmates of Seoul National University's College of Law, served as leading campaigners for Oh in the last mayoral election.
However, they are now critical of Oh's design-first policy and point out that the GNP has never given its nomination to the same person twice and no former Seoul mayor has ever been reelected.
Nevertheless, recent polls reveal that Oh still enjoys the highest approval rating of some 38 percent in the ruling party, followed by Won with 15 percent and La with 12 percent. They also suggest that Oh and Won may easily crush any of the candidates from oppositional parties.
In a mock election late February by pollster Hangil Research, Oh defeated all his opposition rivals, garnering 40.9 percent of respondents' votes.
Former Prime Minister Han Myeong-sook, the most popular candidate from the main opposition Democratic Party (DP), received 19.6 percent of votes.
In another hypothetical election by the pollster's which excluded Oh, Won came out on top against all opposition hopefuls with an approval rating of 23.9 percent.
La lags behind the two GNP candidates, but expressed her confidence Tuesday that she can overtake her two rivals during the GNP primary.
Former Prime Minister Han, 65, is clearly the favored candidate from the opposition camp with a support rate of more than 30 percent in the party, followed by Lee Kye-ahn and Kim Sung-soon with single-digit counts.
Kim, 69, the first DP candidate to declare his bid, is a two-term lawmaker who served as a civil servant in Seoul for some 30 years and Lee, 57, has led Hyundai Motor, Hyundai Card and Hyundai Capital Services.
On average, DP candidates are more than 15 years older than their GNP's rivals.
The outcome of the race could dramatically change on the outcome of Han's current court case, which is scheduled for April 9.
Han appeared in court for the first time Monday.
The Seoul mayoral race is often seen as a stepping stone to becoming the country`s president. President Lee Myung-bak served as mayor from 2002 to 2006.