Rep. Moon Jae-in, a lawyer-turned-politician, won his sixth straight victory in a regional primary of the Democratic United Party (DUP) on Sunday, coming closer to securing the party's ticket for the Dec. 19 presidential polls.
Moon, formerly chief of staff to the late President Roh Moo-hyun, garnered 5,928 votes, or 50.1 percent, of the 11,834 cast in Incheon, a port city west of Seoul, the party's election committee said.
Former DUP chairman Sohn Hak-kyu came in second by winning 26.6 percent of the votes in the Incheon primary, followed by former South Gyeongsang Province Governor Kim Doo-kwan with 16.7 percent and former commerce minister Chung Sye-kyun with 6.7 percent.
In all, Moon has secured 46.2 percent of all votes, followed by Sohn with 25.69 percent, Kim with 14.7 percent and Chung with 13.3 percent, it said.
Moon's winning streak has been widely expected as the 59-year-old candidate has led public opinion polls among the four hopefuls competing for the party's nomination.
In recent opinion polls, however, Moon fell behind the ruling Saenuri Party's candidate Park Geun-hye and Ahn Cheol-soo, a software entrepreneur-turned-professor who is popular among young and urban voters. Ahn, who is not affiliated with any political party, has not yet announced his bid for the December race, but speculation is growing that he will announce his political plan.
The DUP is expected to announce the final winner of its regional primaries on Sept. 16 but if no candidate receives more than 50 percent of all votes cast, a run-off election will be held a week later. (Yonhap)